Well, I will admit that we could play this “what - if” game forever, but here are some things to think about:

1. What if the Imperials had been able to build a really supportive alumni and booster organization ... providing financial support, volunteer help with corps activities and community/ sponsor contacts. Perhaps this would have kept the Imperials alive?

2. What if the Imperials had formed an alumni corps … connected with the junior unit .. to allow alumni to participate on the field and be part of the Imperials organization.

3. What if the corps had formed an ALL-AGE corps… to allow both alumni and local youth to participate in drum corps? This might have kept the Imperials alive too. In theory, this is still possible, but very unlikely.

It's easy to look back and know what would have kept the corps going - that's true for any corps. I think the Imperials just ran their course, like so many other corps from earlier eras. In fact, we lasted a lot longer than most (Royal Airs, Vanguard, Crusaders, and so many lesser known groups). We were active in seven decades - most corps still active today can't say that even now!

I think, maybe more than anything else, the change to DCI made it so only so many "big" corps could exist in any one area, and unfortunately, because we had fallen competitively, we weren't one of those in our area (that went to Cavaliers and Phantom, although Belleville tried early and Guardsmen hung around for a while).

But look at this year's top twelve finishers. Most of them were formed BEFORE the DCI era (only exception is Crown). So has DCI inhibited the startup of new corps as well as finishing many older ones?

What did you do in the Corps? Snare, Drum Major, Drum Instructor/Arranger

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73; 78-79

Good points, Bob. This isn't the start of a crusade by me, just was venting a bit.

But, DCI could simply fold from it's own weight and mismanagement ... then the drum corps activity can "start over".