Wintery Welcome: A Southern Show Choir Recap (Jan. 24)
- Tony Holeman
- 7 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
By Tony Holeman, Southern contributor
With a winter storm pushing forward with every second, the 2026 Southern show choir season started off with a rather unwarm welcome. Despite the harsh conditions, two of the three competitions were still able to continue (albeit with a couple of schedule changes). Those changes brought interesting shifts and noticeable changes on the results for the weekend.
South Jones Invitational
Starting off the competition season for the Magnolia State was the 2026 South Jones Invitational. One programs and its three resulting groups were added to this event, Biloxi’s Sound Surge, Sound Sirens, and Sound Sailors, due to the cancellation of their other planned event, Northwest Rankin MusicFest. Despite the last-second schedule changes, the original favorite, West Jones Imagination, still came out on top with a full Grand Championship sweep. Northeast Jones did pull off a slight upset (considering this is their first season in the 3A division in a while) against the likes of Biloxi to claim the first runner-up position. The 1A division went as expected for the most part, with West Marion winning followed by Pass Christian in second and Wayne County in third. The single-gender division was simply a Biloxi-fest, with their womens group topping their mens group. Final results are follows (no finals):
GC) West Jones “Imagination” (Sweep)
1RU) Northeast Jones “Gold Horizons”
2RU) Biloxi “Sound Surge”
1st in 1A) West Marion “New Era”
1st in Single-Gender) Biloxi “Sound Sirens”
Hoover Show Choir Smackdown
Starting off the competition season for the Yellowhammer State was the 2026 Hoover Show Choir Smackdown. With heavy favorite Brandon having to drop out of this competition due to weather concerns, Spain Park emerged as the favorite to win it all at this event. They managed to live up to the sudden expectations, but certainly not without a fight as all three captions were split among three different groups. Spain Park (at the end, the only large division group at this event) won the title of Grand Championship with the overall Best Vocals caption, Tift County won the first runner-up title and first in middle division with the overall Best Show Design caption, and Enterprise won the second runner-up title with the overall Best Visuals caption (a slight upset against the likes of Vestavia Hills). Talk about a nail-biter! Not only did we get a close finish, but this also marks the first Grand Championship for Spain Park Rhapsody In Blue in nearly 20 years! Congratulations! Rome won the small division as favorites, followed by Helena in second and Pike Road's small mixed group in third. The single-gender division was rounded out by a Tift County win over Enterprise. Final results are as follows (no finals):
GC) Spain Park “Rhapsody In Blue” (BV)
1RU) Tift County “8th Street Singing Company” (Show Design)
2RU) Enterprise “Encores” (BC)
Only Group in Large) Spain Park “Rhapsody In Blue”
1st in Middle) Tift County “8th Street Singing Company”
1st in Small) Rome “Grand Finale”
1st in Single-Gender) Tift County “Ladies Choice”
Looking Forward
With the nasty winter weather moving out, the next weekend of Southern show choir looks to get back on track with three competitions to entertain the community. Here’s a brief look below at some of the upcoming competitions (and featured groups) this weekend. Each event will be covered in an event preview, published later this week.
Mississippi Show Choir Contest (Poplarville, Miss.)
- Brandon “Brio”
- West Jones “Imagination”
- Northeast Jones “Gold Horizons”
- West Marion “New Era”
Albertville Diamond Classic (Albertville, Ala.)
- Auburn “Varsity Singers”
- Homewood “Continuum”
- Homewood “Nexus”
- Vestavia Hills “Singers”
- Rome “Grand Finale”
Tallassee River City Classic (Tallassee, Ala.)
- Opelika “Ovations”
- Tift County “8th Street Singing Company”
- Enterprise “Encores”
- Oxford “Sound”
- Tift County “Ladies Choice”