[4] A summer season was preferable, as average autumn temperatures in the Midwest are often considered too cold for marching bands to perform successfully.

The circuit hosted member bands from Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, and Minnesota.

[citation needed] As of July 2018[update], only five field bands remained active members of the circuit.

No official archive of MACBDA's proceedings exists and very few caption recaps or scores have been preserved from past competitions.

Other bands were supported by nonprofit organizations and accepted performers from multiple schools or communities.

All band members were required to be enrolled in high school, and were eligible to compete the summer following graduation.

[citation needed] Bands were split between A and Open classes, based on the number of performing members.

The annual Youth in Music Band Championships utilized the MACBDA scoring format.

A Drum Major excellence award was also announced, but did not affect the overall score for any of the competing bands.

The two captions with the largest impact on a band's final score are Effect and Music, valued at up to 40 points each.