AUBURN – Blaring horns, thumping drums and screeching whistles filled the mild November air with the sounds of marching bands Saturday night during the 20th Annual Maine Band Directors Association Marching Band Finals.

An estimated 3,000 spectators packed the bleachers at the Walton School football field and spilled out onto the sidelines. Fair weather temperatures reaching into the high 60s kept them comfortable during the four-hour competition.

Tom Fenderson watched his daughter Brenna, 16, play clarinet with the Wells High School Marching Band.

A blanket and folding padded chair tucked under one arm, Fenderson said this was the fourth year he had come to see his daughter perform against the best bands in Maine.

“It’s great,” he said. “Every year all the bands seem to improve.”

He said he didn’t need the blanket this year. “It’s been so cold before you sit and shake the whole time.”

The band members marched, sidestepped and backpedaled around the field under the lights in their colorful uniforms, some fringed with sequins and silver plumes spraying from the tops of their caps.

Woody Mansur, an officer of the association and assistant director of the Edward Little High School Marching Band, said it was fitting that the 20th anniversary of the competition was held at the same school where the first one was hosted.

Much has changed since then, he said, especially the scoring system. Where bands were once ranked numerically, they now are awarded one of three medals.

“Every kid on the field received a medal for their effort,” Mansur said. “Every one came off the field knowing they performed the best they could.”

The lone gold medal winner was Biddeford High School.

Silver medals went to:

• Edward Little High School,

• Portsmouth, N.H. High School,

• Lewiston High School,

• South Portland High School, and

• Old Orchard Beach High School.

Bronze medal winners were:

• Marshwood High School,

• Leavitt Area High School,

• Wells High School,

• Sanford High School, and

• Lawrence High School.

Also, two former band members were awarded college scholarships of $500 apiece. They were: Jerermy Turner, from Leavitt and Jeanne MacDonald, from Old Orchard Beach.