Norwood Park Imperials Alumni Forum
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All we ask is that you keep it neat, clean, polite, and reasonably intelligent.
Sure hope to see a LOT of IMPERIALS alumni planning to attend this event. It would be great fun for our gang .. and help to get us involved with the Chicago area corps alumni activity! 
What did you do in the Corps? drummer
What years were you a Corps member? 1958- 1963
Ooops .. I was told today: no guard or rifle stuff, just music. 
For Imperials alumni who are active on Facebook ..... this note from the All Chicago area alumni team:
The ALL CHICAGO AREA (1940’S THRU 1970’S) DRUM CORPS PICNIC is now a group on Facebook. We are over 140 members strong and growing each day. Check it out…a corps picture and/or a quip about your drum corps days would be most welcome.
REMINDER .... keep this date open on your calendar and plan to attend! . Chicago area all corps picnic and celebration!
Many Imperials alumni have been telling me that they plan to attend .. some even coming from great distances to be there!
Hopefully, we will have an area for our group to get together. But, do plan to mingle with your friends from other area corps too!
Maybe meet some NEW corps friends in the process.
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What did you do in the Corps? drummer
What years were you a Corps member? 1958-63
Actually, we have nobody organizing this event from the Imperials corps, except Mouse (who helps on the area Team). 
It would be GREAT to see a number of Imperials alumni joining the activities. I have heard of SOME Imperials alumni coming from out-of-state to attend.
Some ideas for possible action: (will need volunteers to do this)
1. Organize an IMPERIALS area at the picnic.. with signs, tables, etc.
2. T-Shirts for the occasion? We have an alumni source for low cost shirts.
3. Other ideas?
If you can help, or have ideas, give Mouse a shout at kflig@sbcglobal.net
REMINDER ... less than a month remains before this event. 
try to get there .. this will be fun. We expect a number of Imperials to join the group. Plus many friends from other corps!
Check earlier posts on this thread for details about site, etc.
Rich Biver ... sorry to hear you can't attend. Gosh, there have to be Biver's there. Not sure if Jerrie Biver will attend.
Many thanks to Ken (Mouse) and Adrianne for all their work on this picnic/ reunion. 
Hope that many Imperials from all eras will attend!
Wow! What a great event! Ruth and I returned home about 5 PM ... we were just about "baked out" for the day.
Great turnout and many friends. The "motto" for the event was:
"Rivals on the field ... friends for life .. through drum corps" and the crowd showed that was very true. Alumni from all corps circulated, greeted each other, talked and socialized.
Performances by the Classic Cavaliers alumni corps and the McHenry County Classic Drum Line (organized by Royal Airs alumnus Steve Fagiano) were well received.
Will Koenig (Brass 1960s) brought a great video system for viewing DVDs and the crowd really enjoyed that! The RA Reunion corps from 2002 and the Cavaliers alumni corps from 2008(?) were shown, along with a great DVD of the Imperials from 1956-62. Thanks Will!
A GREAT (new) facility with a large pavilion, modern facilities and room to spread out.
Maybe Mouse can give us a total headcount later .. they did have a registration table.
Many thanks to Mouse and Adrianne and their helpers for their work on this event.
Gosh, Mouse and Adrianne told me that from their preliminary count, almost 400 corps alumni attended the picnic last weekend!
While I was there, I saw at least 18 Imperials alums there .. probably more were there that I missed too. Good to see them all.
This was a great success. Maybe next year we can do a more extensive IMPERIALS alumni gathering/ exhibit?
John, that is one of the reasons we try to participate in alumni gatherings! Hopefully, future events will make it even easier to meet Imperial alumni from all generations.
For example, ALL Imperial alumni should meet and talk with Wayne Mounsey (aka "Older Sarge") who marched in the corps from 1938 to 1950.
And, the 1950s and 1960s generations have a lot of interesting stories too. Finally, as you said, many of us from the 60s never had a lot of opportunity to meet the "later" generation.
Yes, meeting our old friends is GREAT. Meeting new friends is fun too.
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What did you do in the Corps? Drummer
What years were you a Corps member? 1958- 63
NEXT YEAR!
Gosh, we had such fun this year .. with even more attending next year it would be great. 
BUT! We will need help to organize that event, do planning and handle tasks at the site. Can't ask just a few people to do EVERYTHING!
Think about it and give Mouse a shout if you can plan to help next August!
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What did you do in the Corps? Drummer
What years were you a Corps member? 1958- 63
