The Winter Guard International Sport of the Arts World Championship (WGI) is back in Dayton, Ohio in April. The competition brings together fans of marching arts to see different groups perform around the region.
The WinterGuard Championship is the largest annual convention the Miami Valley hosts each year and Dayton has hosted the event for nearly 40 years.
Over two weekends this month, the WGI Color Guard World Championships and the WGI Percussion and Winds World Championships will be held at different venues around Southwest Ohio, including Wright State University Nutter Center, University of Dayton Arena, Dayton Convention.
This year, more than 300 color guards, and over 250 percussion and winds groups are participating and over 50,000 people are expected to attend the competition this year.
The competition is estimated to bring over $13 million annually to the Dayton region.
Bart Woodley, the director of operations at WGI said more groups are performing this year — a 30% jump from last year.
“Last year our numbers were down obviously because we were still climbing out of COVID, but still over the course of the two weekends, it's more like a $13 million economic impact.” Woodley said. “ This year our numbers are up, so we're definitely climbing out of COVID very fast, which is exciting for sure.”
The Miamisburg-based non-profit youth organization now has locations internationally, including Belgium, Thailand, and South Korea. The participating groups this year in Dayton include performers from Canada, the UK and the Netherlands.
“The community embraces us every year,” Woodley said. "Of course all the hotels and restaurants love all the business, but everybody is so welcoming."
