Delightfully Chaotic 2025 Sets Up Wide-Open 2026 Fort Wayne Show Choir Season
- AJ Prentice
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
By A.J. Prentice, Fort Wayne contributor
The 2026 season is drawing near, and while last year's season was delightfully chaotic, looking forward, the community is probably in for another great year of shocking upsets and unpredictable moments. Fort Wayne specifically, towards the end of the 2025 season, saw a lot of groups place very well against some of their typical competition. At the end of the season, here is how HomeRoom's Fort Wayne contingent viewed the scene.
Mixed Rankings
Rankings represent the opinions of these contributors only and not HomeRoom Show Choir as a whole.
Carroll “Magic” (No change from 2025 midseason rankings)
Huntington North “Varsity Singers” (NC)
Northrop “Charisma” (NC)
Homestead “Class Royale” (NC)
Northridge “Northern Lights” (NC)
Jay County “Patriot Edition" (+3)
Churubusco “New Era” (NC)
DeKalb “Classic Connection” (-2)
Columbia City “City Heat” (-1)
Fairfield “Fusion” (Not Ranked)
Womens Rankings
Carroll “Select Sound” (No change from 2025 midseason rankings)
Northridge “Starlights” (+1)
Homestead “Elite” (+2)
Jay County “Just Treble” (-2)
Huntington North “Viking Volume” (-1)
Columbia City “City Lights” (NC)
Northrop “Allure” (NC)
East Noble "Premiere Edition” (+1)
Norwell "Knight Moves” (-1)
Fairfield “Expressions” (NC)
Notable Trends
Steady Top Five
The top five mixed groups from the 2025 midseason held their positions at the end of the season. Many of these groups didn't compete much locally in the back half of the season, particularly Homestead, who opted to compete at out-of-state contests Olentangy and Herbert Hoover. Northrop also stayed firm over Northridge in a battle of "N" choirs.
Small Mixed Back-and-Forth
All throughout the season, and especially in the closing weeks, Jay County, Columbia City, Churubusco, and new contender DeKalb found themselves constantly going back and forth. While early on Columbia City was able to best Churubusco at Carroll, this was never repeated. Jay County found themselves in fourth at Homestead behind Columbia City and Busco, but later at Churubusco, after beating two large groups, Jay County and Columbia City switched spots in finals. At Columbia City, DeKalb failed to beat both Jay County and Busco, however the next week beat Columbia City at state. Needless to say, this season was a bloodbath and the order of these four groups could change drastically had they competed another week.
Homestead Elite Rises
In their final competition against any Fort Wayne groups, Homestead's girls beat Jay County, who had only beat Columbia City by half a point. While Huntington’s girls never faced Homestead directly, they were unable to best Jay County early on.
Season Preview
Some groups have had changes, some groups have something to prove, and all want to win. The following groups have either consistently performed well or have demonstrated potential to pull off upsets this coming season. Either way, these are the groups to keep an eye on in 2026.
Programs are listed alphabetically by school name.
Carroll “Magic” and “Select Sound”
2026 Directors: Jill Jeran and Eric Smead
Carroll has enjoyed a very successful run the past few years. They are definitely one of the most adventurous groups in the Fort Wayne circuit, consistently traveling to bigger competitions throughout the state and even attending national competitions. They have a big season up ahead of them with a scheduled stop at Show Choir Nationals, a hot spot for some of the top choirs in the country. After a very successful season like last year, they will be one to watch in 2026 to potentially take down a bigger competitor or two.
Churubusco “New Era”
2026 Directors: Ryan Dawson and Missy Baughman
Busco had a banner season in 2025, taking their first overall grand championship since the 2022 season. Churubusco is always reliable and one of the more consistent groups in Fort Wayne, only sometimes swapping places with Columbia City and Jay County. However, they didn’t go to state in 2025 as they historically only go every other year. It is unclear if they will pursue ISSMA or Noblesville in 2026.
Columbia City “City Heat” and “City Lights”
2026 Director: Justin Feichter
In a post-pandemic Fort Wayne, City Heat is usually the smallest group competing; however, they’re still going toe-to-toe with the other small groups. City Lights has made waves in small womens divisions not just in Fort Wayne but in across Indiana, with two top-three placements at ISSMA Small Finals, an impressive feat for their size.
DeKalb “Classic Connection”
2026 Directors: Joshua and Kaitlynn Doubblestein
DeKalb has an advantage against the other small mixed choirs as one of the larger groups in the division; however, until the end half of the 2024 season they did not see many premier placements. Since then, they have achieved some impressive results. DeKalb has a notable sound other groups can’t beat, and has established a reputation of being stronger vocally than visually. Each year the group gets better and could come out swinging next year.
East Noble “Knight Rhythms” and "Premiere Edition”
2026 Director: Cadence Lehman
East Noble has gone through some pretty big director changes since the fall of 2024. Former South Side director Heidi Folley came out of her recent retirement and took leadership for the rest of the year, including the 2025 competition season. While Knight Rhythms wasn’t able to beat the usual Fort Wayne small division winners, their show’s quality improved drastically compared to the previous years, qualifying for ISSMA state for the first time since 2013, where they beat Garrett Encore. Premiere Edition was able to beat Columbia City City Lights at Avon and again at ISSMA state for the second year in a row. Now under the direction of Cadence Lehman, East Noble could break into the group of usual small division winners like Churubusco, Jay County, and Columbia City.
Homestead “Class Royale” and “Elite”
2026 Directors: Curtis Shaw and Andrew Sherman
Homestead has generally been a successful Fort Wayne group, however the last few years have seen some new defeats. Class Royale has fallen to Northrop Charisma, Jay County Just Treble, and both Huntington North groups. Homestead also doesn’t travel as much as Carroll, leaving fewer large mixed challengers to contend with.
Huntington North “Varsity Singers” and “Viking Volume”
2026 Directors: Aaron Childress and Danielle Webb
In 2024, both Huntington North groups had one of the best seasons a Fort Wayne group has had in a long time, sweeping against Avon, tying for choreography against Findlay, sweeping ISSMA State Small Finals, and beating groups like Carroll, Winfield, and Ohio's Fairfield. While their 2025 season was still good, they didn’t have the same kind of success as in 2024. In 2026, Huntington North has quite the schedule lined up, concluding their competition season with a trip to Heart of America Orlando and entering one of the most diverse lineups the country will see this season. They will likely do very well within the Fort Wayne area, but will they match up with the big dogs at HOA? Only time will tell.
Jay County “Patriot Edition" and “Just Treble”
2026 Director: Susan Denney
Jay County had a very close season with Churubusco and Columbia City in 2025, contributing to the competitiveness of Fort Wayne's small mixed scene. While their girls generally dominated in small womens, they were, despite their size, unable to break through and defeat any large groups.
Northridge “Northern Lights” and “Starlights”
D2026 Directors: Sandy Manglos & Wilson Wang
Northridge’s 2025 season saw them place consistently in the middle of the pack. They went up against a lot of bigger names like Carroll and Lafayette Jefferson and lost, but also beat Huntington North’s girls, who dominated Northeast Indiana last season. Northridge is returning to ISSMA Small State Finals this year, where they've historically beat top groups like Roncalli, Pendleton Heights, and Huntington North in very close competitions.
Northrop “Charisma” and “Allure”
2026 Directors: Andrew Budd and Shelley Johnson
Historically, Northrop has seen the least success on paper of the three Fort Wayne large schools that regularly compete, but under the direction of Andrew Budd and Shelley Johnson, Northrop’s mixed group has risen to become a lot more competitive. At Carroll this last year, Charisma beat Class Royale for the first time since 2018, introducing more parity into the region's results.