From the side comments about Minnesota, shown in the DCM DeKalb show thread, it appears that Minnesota is the one remaining "hot bed" of local corps activity!

Yes, I remember the 1959 Drum Beauty show in Stillwater. This was held the day of the Legion junior show (the Legion did not have a junior night show.)

In the contest, the Cavaliers and Golden Knights TIED for first, and the Imperials were next ... behind by 3.5 points but ahead of Madison, Garfield, St. Catherines and the Kilts!

What did you do in the Corps? drummer 1958-63, asst. instructor 1964-71; quartermaster 1964-66

What years were you a Corps member? member 1958- 1963

Dave,

I am not surprised that you remembered Stillwater in 1959. From the article I cited it sounded like St Vincents was the only corps that place higher than Norwood at the American Legion Nationals that didn't show up.

With the local corps activity in Minnesota it sounds like folks are doing something other than ice fishing, snowmobiling, eating Lutefisk and drinking Gloog, during the cold weather months. As a former, reluctant resident, I will say that the smaller cities in Minnesota are probably an ideal place for local corps activities to thrive. Strong pride in community and businesses and residents interested in supporting organizations that represent their towns.

What did you do in the Corps? Baritone

What years were you a Corps member? 1959-66 (Cadets 59-61 Imperials 62-66)

Yes, Minnesota has great communities up here. Unfortunately, the high school marching band circuit is incredibly weak (they don't even have a state championship), so we have to train people from scratch. This also means that new members are usually extremely green to the drum corps activity and, many times, will quit before they even get to the season. It's really hard for folks to understand drum corps till they actually experience the thrill of competition. On the other hand, the members of the corps are not drum corps know-it -alls that think they know whats going on better than the staff, as I have experienced in other senior corps ventures.

Oh, and by the way, the winters are not much different than those in Chicago. Matter of fact, most of the weather we get here goes through Chicago.

What did you do in the Corps? Soprano

What years were you a Corps member? 70-75 Cadets, 76-81 A Corps

Jim,

California is a lot more diverse in terms of nature, terrain, climate and geology, than any place I've been in the U.S. I see redtail hawks, coyotes, deer that I see every day and ocasionally a bald eagle or two. And I only live 5 miles from San Francisco Bay and a 45 minute (not including rush hour) from the City. My daughter in Pomona California saw a mountain lion on the hillside beside her house about two weeks ago.

A major difference is that we have hills and mountains. The "urban development" backs up into pristine wilderness areas--it's pretty tough to hike up a slope that is between 30 and 45 degrees so people don't go into these areas or they are watersheds for reservoirs and you can't get into.

Climate also changes as you travel relatively short distances in California.

A year ago last May I went to watch my son play in a Junior College baseball playoff game in a place called Quincy CA. The town is northeast of Sacramento and west of Reno on the west side of the Sierra's at about elevation 3000 ft. When I left the Bay Area it was about 60 degrees, Sacramento area was about 90 degrees and when I got to Quincy it was about 35 degrees with light snow fluries--just like an ocassional opening day in Chicago. The next day it was in the mid 50s, the sun was shinning off the snow capped peaks of the Sierras and I was watching a baseball game with a full vista of the Sierra Nevada Mountains across the outfield fence. Also, the 70 mile drive from Orrville, CA to Quincy is a road along the Feather River which runs in a steep narrow canyon with some dramatic geologic changes. Don't remember anything like that it Minnesota.

I could go on talking about the Northern California coast, the Redwoods, Yosemite, Napa Valley, the desert, Oregon (a place populated by people too obnoxious to be Texans but western third of the geography is a rain forest), Washington, northern Idaho and western Montana, but of course it's all relative to one's personal experiences.

My in-laws had a summer place in western Ontario and I did enjoy going there and traveling through the lake country in Minnesota. In my case, when everything was green rather than covered with snow. But then again, Lake Tahoe is as beautiful a setting as those locations in Minnesota and Ontario.

In my profession I also fortunate that I get into some pretty wild and beautiful locations where clients are building roads or building pipelines (Alaska, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Nevada) so my perspective on the Minnesota and the mid-west is influenced by that as well.

So much for the geography discussion. Bottom line is you like what you have experienced. That is also probably at the root of what everybody has been discussing relative to our own drum corps experiences and our opinions one how things should be.

Regards,

John