Friendship Cup

The Friendship Cup is a competitive circuit for high school marching bands in the Rocky Mountain Region. Unlike CBA Sanctioned shows, the Friendship Cup competitions allow bands to compete with other similarly-sized bands, not based on school classification (meaning the bands compete with similarly sized bands as opposed to similarly sized high schools). Ralston Valley falls into the AAA Class (71-100 performers) according to the Friendship Cup classification system for 2026. 

The Friendship Cup is offering three different events in 2026. RV is attending the Eaton High School event, which is a traditional prelims/finals format. Only twelve bands will advance from prelims to finals.   

We will need Pit/Props Volunteers, Uniform Helpers, Hospitality Servers, and lots of food donations. Please click HERE to volunteer.

RV Competition Day Schedule:

8:00 a.m.: Drop off food donations at RV

8:00 a.m.: Hospitality Breakfast Servers arrive at RV

8:30 a.m.: Students arrive at RV

8:30 a.m.: Breakfast at RV

9:30 a.m.: Buses depart RV

12:00 p.m.: Props/Pit Volunteers and Uniform/Water Helpers arrive at Eaton High School

2:00 p.m: Prelims Performance

~2:30 p.m.: Snack Lunch

4:15 p.m.: Hospitality Dinner Servers meet at the RV hospitality trailer 

~5:00 p.m.: Dinner

6:30 or 6:45 p.m.: Props/Pit Volunteers and Uniform/Water Helpers meet at RV trailers

8:00 or 8:15 p.m.: Finals Performance. The exact time depends on the prelims score and won't be published until after 2:15 p.m.

8:55 p.m: Drum Major Retreat (Finals)

~11:10 p.m.: Students arrive back at RV

~11:10 p.m.: Parents to pick up students at RV

Ticketing Information (previous season info, but should be similar for this year):

Tickets may be purchased at the gate. Cash and credit cards are accepted. Tickets for prelims and finals are sold separately. A combination ticket for admission to both prelims and finals is available at a reduced rate; we will definitely move on to finals since there are only two bands in our classification.

Ticket pricing is as follows:

Competition Schedule:

Parking and Other Information:

• Please use County Road 35 to access the spectator parking lot, which is just west of the stadium (see map below).

• Concessions will be available. Cash and credit card payments are accepted.

• There will be a festival merchandise table. Cash and credit card payments are accepted.