We’re looking for show programs from Washington, Oregon, Montana, and BC & Alberta Canada, even partial programs from any decade, including the present one.
Don’t throw them out, or worse yet, let your kids throw them out after you’re gone. Send them (or an electronic copy) to us and we’ll share them with the world! (Literally folks, this site can be seen WORLD-WIDE). See the “Introduction” for details.
If you like this site, add a link to it on your Facebook page, or add a link to your favorite drum corps Facebook page.
Either way, tell people so the history stays alive!
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Goodbye Fred. We miss ya. See you on the flip-side Bro.
April 2024
The rapid growth of this website has come to an end. From 2020 thru 2024 we have documented 280 individual drum corps in the PNW between 1889 and 2012. We’re positive there are many more undocumented early twentieth century corps out there. The actual number will never be known.
The site has collected 2,620 photos, documents, articles, and put them on 255 individual pages.
We have also written 30 articles (and counting) for Drum Corps World about the history of PNW drum corps. Many thanks to Steve Vickers for all of his encouraging words. Steve is an outstanding human being for those of you who have never had the opportunity to talk to him. He represents all the good that is within the drum corps community today.
Thank you for all your generous praise and support from across the USA, Canada, and Australia of all places.
Thank you all.
July – December 2024
We passed 20,000 views at the end of August. Imagine that. So glad to see that people are interested in our DC history. Thank you everybody.
October – Added Bell-Airs photos. Much thanks to John C. Rice, curator of The Al Wittman Collection.
November – Added photos of Golden Skyliners, 1967 Cascades @ Optirama, Alberta Girls, Vernon Girls, 1970 Shamrocks @ Optirama, 1925 Vancouver ELKS DC fund raiser.
April – June 2024
Added three great photos of the Pendleton Sr drum corps from 1961 and 1962. Go to the Eastern Oregon page to see them.
Added 1973 NWDCA newspaper article to the NWDCA Ephemera page. Photo of the Patriots and Seattle Cascades.
Added a Drum Corps World article (April 2024 issue); Pacific Northwest All-Girl Drum Corps, which can be found on the Historical Perspective page.
Added a Drum Corps World article (May 2024 issue); DC Population by State, which can be found on the Historical Perspective page.
Added two Drum Corps World articles (June 2024 issue): Mike Duffy – A Pacific Northwest Original and 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. Again, on the Historical Perspective page.
March 2024
Updated Seattle Cascades history document with new data. Specifically, their first known show was August 20, 1966 in Westminster BC Canada.
See our Pacific Northwest National Champions article published in the March 2024 edition of Drum Corps World. See the Historical Perspective page on this site.
February 2024
Happy birthday bro! And Thank You Joel. You are THE BEST.
Added Spanish-American War Vets DC page under the “Pre-1960s Corps” page.
Added never seen before Klondike Boys buttons from 1972 and 1973. <Temporary Link>
“Pass and Review” article published in January’s edition of Drum Corps World. See “Historical Perspective” page.
Added an ultra-rare photo of the West Seattle Fusiliers Sr. D&BC. This is an unbelievable find.
January 2024
Added 1951 Eagles Oregon Retreat photo and July 5, 1969 Sound-Off Pass & Review photo to the “Retreat” page.
Added March 29, 1969 Hawks drum quartet photo to the “Mid-Winter” competition page.
Added 1972 Sentinels American Section Seattle parade photo, 1975 Marksmen field show photo, 1994 Marauders full-corps photo.
Added Ballard Eagles bus photo, 1981 La Senoritas in Vancouver BC parade photo, and 1971 Senoritas history to the Drill Team page.
Geek page has all new graphs and numbers. Added Eagles and Elks senior drum corps data impacting the 1920s thru 1940s. Updating this page is a bit of an onerous task.
“Seattle Hurricanes Legacy” DC article published in January DC World. See “Historical Perspective” page
Finished Eagles and Elks pages.
Revised Astoria Centennial DC history, as in; we found some. Temp link here Centennial DC
December 2023
‘Tis the season folks…..not to update this website. Might wait until 2024…
PNW Eagles DC article published in December DC World. See “Historical Perspective” page
November 2023
Added Kennedy Continental‘s history document.
Added “A Lesson in History” as seen in the November issue of Drum Corps World. See Historical Perspective page.
Added 1993, 1996, and 1998 Seattle Cascades photos. Added 1959 Columbians Water Follies talent show photo.
Added Canadian Cavaliers to the Canadian DC page. In 1968 they were the only Canadian Japanese D&BC. Similar to the Buddhist Scouts of Seattle.
Updated: State maps and corps intro list; Bellevue Guardsmen uniform history;
October 2023
Added new page, “DC Families” to the header above. On this page you will see our local drum corps lineage. Geeky, yes. If you have any additions or corrections, please let us know.
Mid-Winter Championships page updates – Added 1969 Hawks, Sentinels, and Cascade Cadets photos.
September 2023
We’ve noticed a fair amount of hits on the drill team page this year. 223 hits so far. We welcome all you drill teams to the site and encourage your donations of historical material. Please read the introduction for details. Tell your friends to come and visit us too!!! KEEP DRILL TEAM HISTORY ALIVE!
Updated the Thunderbirds Pacific Northwest Championships show data. We now have all of the correct venues for the correct years, updated the 1960 photo analysis. Much thanks to those who helped.
Congratulations to the Seattle Cascades and the Columbians for representing the PNW in DCI this year. Good job people!
Updated the Geek page. Total PNW drum corps now stands at 213 between 1910 and 2020. This number will change again in the future.
Added Seattle Cascades corps jacket photos to their 1990s and 2000s pages.
August 2023
Added a PNWDC National Champion Chart – <temp link here>
Added random photos of; 1975 Oregon Crusaders, 1992 Cascades drum line, 1992 Cascades full corps photo, 2003 Cascades at DCI, 1927 Legion Post #1 D&BC of Butte Montana, added 2002 Seattle Cascades photo at DCI Finals. Added 1969 Imperial Cadets tenor drum photo. Found it for sale in Facebook. COOL!!! Added Pendleton Sr DC photo taken at the “Dress-Up” night parade. New 1981 La Senoritas photo taken in Vancouver BC
We made a large donation of Pendleton drum corps photos and two DC history articles to the Umatilla County Historical Society Museum. They did not have any written history on any Pendleton drum corps. We’d like to thank our drum corps Brothern for assisting us in getting this valuable history into the local museum where it belongs. LONG LIVE DRUM CORPS!!!!
July 2023
Deep dive into Eagles DC history. So far about 29 Eagles corps have existed in Washington & Oregon between 1923 and 1963.
Total documented PNW drum corps has risen to 215. If we deep dived into all the fraternal organizations including the Boy Scouts we might add another 100 or so. I doubt we will be doing that. Never say never. It doesn’t matter how much research we do, there will always be undocumented corps out there. Probably a lot of them. Who knows? The best we can hope for is a smattering of each type of corps on the site. Ignore no one.
Added Eagles drum corps alpha-list. Temp Link HERE
Drumkhana History in the July issue of Drum Corps World. Much thanks to the one who supplied the impetus and the encouragement.
May – June 2023
Vacation-ish.
Added Corps of the North and 1970 Portland American Legion Nationals articles to the Historical Perspective page. (As seen in DCW May and June Issues)
April 2023
Added Highland Regiment page.
Added Edmonton Strutters photo.
Updated Corps of the North page. Drum Corps World article coming soon!!
Added Washington State SAL Jr Corps article to the Historical Perspective page.
New Cascades at 1970 American Legion Nationals – Prelims photos
Added 1973 Shamrocks CG parade photos and 1969 bus photo.
Added mid-late 1970s Alberta Girls drumline photos (2)
March 2023
Added 1961, 62, and 63 Washington State American Legion show programs.
New 1964 Thunderbirds Mid-Winter show poster and Columbians news & ephemera.
Show tickets: 1961 WA State Legion Championships, 1963 WA State VFW Championships, 1964 Angels Sing
New 1973 Buddhist Scouts photo.
Added “Decline of Sr DC in the PNW” and “The DC of Whatcom County” to the Historical Perspective page.
Added “Drumkhana – 1967” sub-page.
Added two 1946 Bellingham AL Post #7 retreat photos. 1946 was their 9th Washington State championship.
Added too much to list to the Sedro-Woolley page. Thank you John Grout (AL Post #43 Historian) for access to all of your history.
Added 1959, 1961, 1962 and 1963 Washington State American Legion Show programs.
Updated Shamrocks ephemera.
February 2023
Happy birthday bro!
We went to the Bellingham; WA AL post and they shared their history with us. Go to “Pre-1960 Corps and select “Washington State – American Legion Corps”, scroll down to and select the red Albert J. Hamilton text to see all the new photos. We’re really excited about this folks, it’s like hitting the lottery.
Added new retreat photos; 1938, 1946, and 1973 Bellingham Legion shows.
New 1973 La Senoritas photo and 1973 Drill Team scores under Seattle Drill Teams.
Two New photos of Olympia AL Post #3 Band. Yes Band. They’re Legion, attended all of the conventions, they’re old, musical, so they belong here too.
New Grenadiers photo. We didn’t know they had a girl drum major from 1969 thru 1973 (at least).
All the new Bellingham data flowed through the entire site. We thank Robert Meyers Post Historian for allowing us to share this wonderful photographic history with you and the entire world.
New article in the March 2023 Drum Corps World; The rise and fall of senior drum corps in the PNW.
New Sedro-Woolley Baldridge Post #43 photos. Thanks to the S-W Museum! Thank you Susan!!!
Added photos: 1965 Shamrocks AL Nats. 1969 Hawks drum quartet. 1969, 70, 74 Shamrocks parades. Rangers news article. 1971 Hawks Optirama. 1969-70 Imperial Cadets Yearbook. 1970s Grenadiers field show.
Added Bellingham Post #7 SAL Jr Corps, Cranbrook AG D&BB, The Eruption (2012), Cascades news & photos from 1978 & 1981.
January 2023
Happy New year folks!!!!
Updated Merger document in Historical Perspective. Added two more Black Watch buttons.
Cleaned-up Shamrocks page. Added new 1973 parade photo.
We had an error on the “Trucks & Buses” page. In the 1965 photo of the Shamrocks, that was NOT their bus. Thay did not have buses until 1969. Thank you for pointing that out to us. That photo has been deleted. You can still see it on the “1965 American Legion Nationals – Prelims” page. Just look for the sharp-looking green and black guys marching, with a silver-sides bus in the background. Thanks again Anthony. Much appreciated.
Added articles to: Bellingham Legion page, Odds & Ends, Shamrocks.
December 2022
Happy holidays to everyone out there. Be safe and be well.
Added the JR Drum Corps Bugler trophy from the Spokane American Legion Convention in 1939. John E. Pfaff from Yakima AL Post #36 won it.
Added 1967 Royal Lancers Oregon State American Legion Champions patch. They won the state championships in 1964, 1966 thru 1970, and in 1973.
Somehow, some time, we deleted the entire Senior Corps page!! We have no idea how it happened. It was easier to re-create it from scratch than to reinstall from back-up. Needless to say, the senior page may be not as up-to-date as it was. Sorry for the F-up. Our bad.
Minor updates to Geek graphs.
Added new article to Historical Perspective; The Drum Corps of Everett Washington [as seen in the January 2023 issue of Drum Corps World].
Added: 1962 Wash State AL Championship photos to; Hurricanes, retreat photos, Falcons Sr.
Added: 1959 Columbians photo and 1963 Bellingham Matadors news article
November 2022
Visited both West Seattle American Legion Post-160 and VFW Post-2713 Tuesday (Nov 1st). Both Commanders are great guys and have generously shared their Post’s historical documents and drum corps data. It reaffirms your faith in humanity to know that there are people out there who are so willing to help someone whom they have never met. The drum corps community is richer today because of these gentlemen. Go to “Historical Perspective” and read about their corps in “The Drum Corps of West Seattle”.
Added Washington State VFW Championship trophies to West Seattle’s George Farwell VFW Post #2713 page. THANKS FOR THE DONATIONS.
Added: Titans history, Ballard Girls Drill Team data, Seattle Chinese Drill Team data, Imperial Cadets history, Mariners history, and Sunsetters history.
October 2022
OK. Back in the saddle again. We hope.
Added the 1916 Montana Hussars to the Pre-1960 page.
Added: Bellevue Guardsmen bus and two parade photos to their respective pages.
Added: “The Drum Corps of West Seattle” to the Historical Perspective page. Read this one folks. It will surprise you.
Added: 1969 Hawks Optirama, 1969 Shamrocks Brazen Brass, and 1970 Sentinels Optirama recordings. They’re old, they’re crusty, BUT WE HAVE THEM!!!!.
Thanks for the donations!!
Added: 1971 “Brass Sound” show program, cover only. This show was held at Sandpoint in Seattle. No participants are known except for the Bellevue Sentinels who took second place. Since there were two other shows on July 4th in Portland that year, from that, we could deduce the participants for the Sandpoint show. Guessing es no bueno, so we won’t do it. You can though!! Go to the 1960-70s scores and look at the shows around the same time and let your imagination run wild!!
Added: COLOR PHOTO of the Pendleton Sr D&BC. This is the first color photo that we’ve ever seen.
Added: Marksmen photos and an early Sentinels bus photo (under “trucks & buses”)
Added: Port Orchard Guardsmen detail page with photos.
September 2022
Subdivided the Cascades pages into decades; 1960s, 70s, 80s & 90s, 2000’s. Large donation of 1968 Cascade Cadet materials.
Added new material to West Seattle American Legion Post #160. Unfortunately, no photos of their championship drum corps.
Everybody – September has been a busy month for us non-website wise. We’re behind on our postings and maintenance. We apologize.
Give us another couple of weeks and we should have more personal bandwidth.
PNWDC.com
August 2022
Added: 2022 Columbians photos (3). 2018 Oregon Crusaders photos. 1977 La Senoritas photos. 1967 Toreador color photo. 1973 Oregon Challengers photos (2).
Added: 2014 Spokane Thunder photo
New 1969 & 1971 Pendleton Rangers show audio. Thank you for the donation!
New 1969 Royal Lancers & Hawks show audio. Thank you for the donation!
Three new pages – Look for “Equipment Trucks & Buses” in the header. Yes, we keep on getting geekier and geekier. Go take a look. DONATE A PHOTO! Send us a recollection!! Fact check our data!!!!
Expanded the Drumkhana page into three pages.
Added two Renton Blue Angels photos. One is in color. Finally a color photo. Anybody have another one to share??
July 2022
Added material to 1970 AL Nationals and 1963 VFW Nationals pages.
Added Photos to the Sentinels and Bellevue Guardsmen pages.
Added 1970 and 1971 retreat photos.
Added 1969 Sentinels photo to the Pasco Water Follies page.
Revised 1966 Drumkhana page to acknowledge Larry Salinger, who figured out which show it was.
Added 1970 retreat photo to the 1970 AL Nationals page and to the Show Retreat page.
Added two Marksmen photos and a 1969 Shamrocks photo.
A 1967 MP3 recording of the Thunderbirds has been donated by Roy Perez and added to the PNW Recordings page. THANK YOU ROY!!!
Added 1931 Tacoma Moose, 1939 Steilacoom VFW, and 1939 Bellevue VFW bass drum heads.
June 2022
Updated the 1969 Seattle Drill Team Association Directory.
Added 1966 Sentinels program data showing their Civil Air Patrol roots.
June 22, 2022 – We’ve passed 10,000 views on this site. That took 25-months since inception. Thank you for visiting!!
Added new sub-page to PNWDC Recordings in the header, MP3 Recordings of Local Corps.
May 2022 – Happy SECOND Birthday to US! Yep. We went on-line on May 11, 2020. Lots of typing since then. My two fingers are plum worn out!
Added a 1979 B&W and a color photo of the Kennedy Continentals of Burien, WA. Those color photos are elusive…
Added “Western States Convention” program. This is a good historical piece from 1968 that chronicles judging clinics for us left-coasters.
Added a Royal Lancer / Hawks history document under each corps page and “Historical Perspective”.
Added Cascades, Blue Angels, El Toreador photos.
Added Cascades Thunderbird Drum Majors history. Can be found under Cascades, Thunderbirds, or Historical Perspective.
April 2022
Spartans – Added 1986, 87, and 1990 group photos.
Added Seattle Nile Temple to the Senior DC page along with three new photos.
New 1977 Golden Skyliners photo.
New 1967 Rangers Optirama article & corps patch added to their page. Thanks for the Donations!!
Added 1970 Royal Lancers show program.
Added new “Non-Pacific NW Show Programs” page under “Show Programs” that contains five new vintage programs.
Added 1969 Kingsmen show program.
Added an “Items for Trade” page to the header.
March 2022
We received a large donation of Portland Hawks photos from 1960 thru 1965, and some written personal history about the birth of the Royal Lancers. We would like to thank Bob Chenoweth for his generous gift of Portland Drum Corps history. These items will go a long way to flesh out the early years for both of these corps. This is incredibly invaluable information.
Added the Bellingham Matadors 1963 – 1965 to the NW Washington page.
Added Commonwealth Frontiersman data to the Senior Corps page.
Added Optirama photos: 1965 Hawks, 1967 Retreat, 1973 Patriots
New page – “1965 AL Nats Prelims” Photos. Go to: “National Championships Held in the PNW” in the header above.
New page – “Flamingo – Lancers“. Go to “Western Oregon” corps in the header above.
New Page – “1966 Drumkhana“. Go to “Highlighted Events” in the header above. (This was our unknown show in question. Thanks to our Australian friend who solved this mystery for us. Please drop us a line and we’ll add your name to the page if you wish)
“Historical Perspective” added: The Golden Skyliners and Competition or Exhibition?
Added a Mike Stefanowicz biography to “Historical Perspective”. Mike was a nationally recognized percussionist who worked locally with the Thunderbirds and Hurricanes.
February 2022
Happy birthday bro!
Added:
The Edmonton Sabers to the Canadian corps page. Founded in 1977 for kids 8 – 12 years old.
The Seattle Tilikum DC (1912) to the “Pre-1960, Washington State Other Corps” page. Click on the link once you get there to read more about this corps and Seattle’s festival.
Photos of Shamrocks corps jackets. 1950 Auburn AL Post #78 and Tacoma AL Post #2 photos. 1967 Thunderbirds and (2) Everett Blue Knights photos.
1965 Thunderbirds Mid-Winter Comp photo. Cascades bass drumhead photo. Cascades 1975 group photo (DONATION!!) and 1976 parade photo (DONATION!!)
Our Columbians history article will appear in the March 2022 issue of Drum Corps World.
January 2022
Added Brassmen and Pacificaires data to NW Washington & Canadian pages respectively. Added Pacific Alliance to NW Washington page. Added West Seattle Junior to Pre-1960 Washington AL Page.
Added 1980s scores to the 1980 thru 1999 page. Not many local shows. Our local drum corps activity was contracting.
General housekeeping. Cleaning up some of the early stuff I posted. Sloppy work. Better now.
PNW DC history article published in DC World – February edition. It has been added to a new page – “PNW DC History” in the main header.
COLUMBIANS!! – Revised history. The Post #34 DC started out as a Boy Scout D&BC sponsored by the post and the Boy Scouts of America in early 1936. In October 1936 the sponsorship of the DC was entirely taken over by the Post and renamed the Legion Junior D&BC. Data based on a news article in the Oct 23rd, 1936 Spokane Chronicle.
Added photos of a 1960 – 1965 Thunderbirds color guard jacket to the TB paraphernalia page.
Added the Tacoma Spanish-American War All-Girl D&BC to the All-Girl page. A very minor addition, but it’s the FIRST Spanish-American War D&BC added to this site.
December 2021
Added 2000 to 2019 corps page and 2020 and beyond corps page. Deleted 2000 & Beyond page. Rejiggered data to conform to new page arrangement. Revised indices.
Added new 1956 photo of the Pendleton Sr Corps (Eastern Oregon page), along with a brief drum corps resume of Ted White who was involved with both the Pendleton Sr & Rangers Jr corps.
Added a 1972 Rangers photo showing them in the Native American village at the Pendleton Round-up. This is not something you see every day. Check it out.
Added a Pendleton DC history document (Eastern Oregon page). Four DC in Pendleton. No less than nine drum corps existed in Eastern Oregon. A regular hotbed of DC activity. Great history there.
Added 1968 or 1969 photos of: Knights of Pythias, Golden Skyliners, Imperial Cadets, Sunsetters, and La Senoritas. 15 rare color photos in all.
Updated the Golden Skyliners page: Added a corps history document, added photos from 1953 thru 1971. I encourage everyone to go read their history document and look at the photos. Very interesting history.
Added Great Falls Scouts to “Honorary PNW Corps” page and 1962 World’s Fair page. They existed for a mere three years, but represented Montana at the World’s Fair.
Moved “Bass Drum Heads” from the equipment page to the “Odds & Ends” page. Added 1953, 62, 68, 69 Great Falls photos along with Bell-Airs, Toredaors, Lancers, and Strutters.
New “Parade Banner” page located under “Odds & Ends”.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS FOLKS!
November 2021
The November issue of Drum Corps World has published our member’s article on the Pendleton Sr Corps & Pendleton Rangers history (page 68 & 70) and our update to the 1962 Renton Angel’s show program biography of Mike Stefanowicz’ (page114). Thank you Steve Vickers!
November Drum Corps World also has an article on the 2022 Seattle Cascades (page 42), and the Tri-Cities Columbians (page 45).
Added Pre-1960s scores. Added 1971 Rangers instructor article.
Reformatted the Drill Team page to add team sub-pages. People are looking at that page. Glad to see some interest in drill teams. They are an important part of our local history.
Photos added: 2017 Cascades, 1963 & ’67 Flamingos, 2016 Oregon Crusaders, 1970 Hawks snare line, 1969 Royal Lancers at Disney Land,
Added ca1900 Oregon GAR Drum Corps photo. Go to “Pre-1960 Corps” + “Oregon State – Other Pre-1960 Corps”.
11-17-21. I just found out that the “Historical Perspective” page was 404. Sorry. All better now.
Happy Thanksgiving!!
October 2021
The wife just brought home some Halloween candy, so we must be in October. Ahhhh…lots of little tiny Snickers bars….
Added a “DC Geeks Only” page. Some of you have already found the new page without prompting. AMAZING!!! Extra-bonus-brownie-points for those of you that found it first. Now, where did she hide all those little Snickers bars????….gotta go…
Our “1975 Changes” article is in the October issue of Drum Corps World. Check out the magazine on-line. See “External Links” in header above to get there.
Updated Columbians Pre-1955 history. Added a 1948 news article. Interesting stuff. AL Post #34 tried to start two senior corps.
Added the following statement to the Flamingos & Royal Lancers data: “It is believed that the purpose of the 1965 merger of the Portland Royal Lancers and the Salem Flamingos was to create a larger corps to participate in the American Legion National Championships held in Portland Oregon that year. It is also rumored that the Lancers experienced budget issues and had to merge to stave-off implosion. We do not know if either or both of these are true. Do you have the inside scoop? Let us know, and we’ll post it here. PNWDC.com”
September 2021
Our Water Follies article was published in the September issue of Drum Corps World. To see the complete article, look under “Highlighted Events” in the header above.
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Special shout-out to “Kim”. She was a corps member within the past decade and noticed the information on this site did not reflect her more recent marching experience. That observation was the genesis for creating the “1980s and 1990s” and “2000 and Beyond” pages. Now we have content that is relatable and enjoyable for everyone, as it should be.
The evolution of this site is not what we had envisioned initially, and that’s a good thing. Welcome one and all.
PNWDC.com
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Added “2000 and Beyond” link (and all sub-pages) in the main header above to facilitate accessing more recent corps data.
Added “1980s and 1990s Corps” page. Not much there, but it’s a start.
Pendleton Oregon is getting some much deserved love. I have written a short piece on Pendleton drum corps history from 1925 thru 1974. Not posted yet, but it is in the works. Readying a piece on the Pendleton Sr corps for submission to Drum Corps World.
Submitted a 1975 PNW synopsis to Drum Corps World. Should be in the October issue.
Revised “Introduction” page to account for new 80s, 90s, and 2000s pages.
Added 1982 Argonauts group photo. Added custom Cascades jacket. Date unknown. Probably 1970 or 1971.
August 2021
Added “Seattle Cascades 2000 and Beyond” page under “NW Washington/Cascades”. Contains their DCI history and some great photos.
Another really large donation. 27 show programs. 21 in the 1970s. Of those, 19 are completely new to the site. Four more are replacing existing partial programs. The last four are 2016 to 2018 programs. More scores too. Lots and lots of good data. PNWDC scanned all those programs and documents and returned the originals to the owner. Thank you John and Mark!!
Added “Show Programs 2000 and Beyond” to the Show Programs page. Check it out.
Updated – “Optirama – The Alpha or Omega?” article to include a new paragraph on the 1976 Oregon Crusaders. Find the Optirama link on the “Highlighted Events” page.
Updated – 1960 Thunderbirds Mid-Winter show. Be sure to read the photo analysis about the Columbians. Also found on the “Highlighted Events” page.
I keep adding bass drum heads. Such a wide variety. See <surprise link> under July 2021. (Not much of a surprise anymore is it?)
Added Jolly Jester Sr corps history link to the J-J Jr corps on the “NW Washington” page. Thank you Steve Vickers for letting us re-publish your article.
The Seattle Cascades history was published by Drum Corps World in their August issue.
Added a nice 1974 Olds bugle sales brochure to the “Equipment History” page under “Brass”.
Updated El Toreadors history. They started in April 1961 as the West Seattle Legion Jr D&BC, Post #160. In November 1962 they changed their name to El Toreadors. Cool.
July 2021
Photos added: 1966 – 77 Cascades, 1973 & 74 Royal Lancers (Optirama), 1964 – 67 Shamrocks, 1975 Marksmen, 1972 Flamingos (Optirama), 1973 La Senoritas (Drill Teams), Two new retreat photos from 1961 & 1973, 1964 Hawks, 1964 Falcons Jr., 1961 Pythias photo
The Thunderbirds Mid-Winter Championship Show page finally is active. The data is sparse, but hopefully that will change over time. You can access the page thru the “Highlighted Events” page.
More Donations!! New or better copies of 1962 Filipino Youth program (Drill Teams). 1963, 1965, 1966 & 1967 Thunderbird programs. Thunderbirds Mid-Winter & Optirama scores. Photographs. 61 Drum Corps World issues from the 1960s, more invaluable photographs, buttons, handwritten historical documents!!! We appreciate your generosity and patience while letting us make electronic copies of all your amazing stuff.
Rearranged the Eastern Oregon corps page. Added a map to show distances between corps.
SENIOR CORPS
New photos: 1950 Seattle Nile D&BC, 1932 Salem Oregon American Legion drum major.
Updated Auburn Blackhawks history in relation to the Auburn AL Post #78 DC and added a PHOTO!!!
We now have documentation that the Appleknockers & Pippins are the Wenatchee AL Post #10 corps. All pages have been revised accordingly.
Updated Renton Eagles history to show state and national championships.
June 2021
Ohhh the HEAT! It was 101, 104, and 108 in Seattle Saturday (26th) thru Monday. Both Sunday & Monday were records. Wow. Feels like Pasco heat. C’mon rain…
Updated TB Cadet & Cascades History!!! Like it or not, the history is what it is.
Cascade history is like the transitive property: If A = B and B = C, then A = C. It doesn’t matter what variables you plug-in, the results are the same.
If the Thunderbirds are related to the Thunderbird Cadets, and the Thunderbird Cadets are related to the Cascade Cadets , then the Thunderbirds are related to the Cascade Cadets. Everybody is related. We all have the same daddy(s). The histories are different. The accomplishments are different. The organizations are different. But that doesn’t mean we’re not all related. You might want to disown your relatives, but in the end, like it or not, they’re still your relatives.
1968 Anaheim Kingsmen show program donated!! Thank you.
Thunderbirds Mid-Winter show page coming soon under “Highlighted Events”.
New senior corps photos: Bellingham American Legion and Portland Police D&BC.
Updated 1961 CYO Shamrock photo data on the “Retreat Photos” page. The show is now known to be the July 14, 1961 show.
Added 1975 & 1976 Optirama programs and a 1976 Oregon Bi-Centennial program.
Added five 1970 photos to the “Help Needed” page. They’re all taken at the same location, but at what show? Anybody remember? Please let us know.
We have new donated material!!! A 1978 Optirama program and some 1976 corps specific documents. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!
Added Flamingos, Royal Lancers, Cascades, and Titans photos!!! We LOVE old photos!!
Added Jolly Jesters to the NW Washington page. We need more information on this one people. Anybody have a photo??
May 2021
New 1956 Pasco Junior Legion D&BC (Columbians) photo. Look for Ed Halverson in the back.
Added a Black Watch 1974 tour schedule to the “Water Follies” page (accessible through the “Historical Perspective” page). Take a look : > )
Salem Optirama page is posted. Includes data from every Optirama along with scores for each category for every year. If you have data you’d like to share, please contact us. As far as we can tell, Optirama went from 1964 thru 1983. Have a program??? Shoot us a copy.
10 new articles added to “Historical Perspective” by a member from Oregon. Great stuff from the early 1960s drum corps scene. Great explanation on the old-school corps inspection process prior to entering the field for competition. You can find that in the Water Follies article (his, not mine).
Five new show programs donated by the same gentleman above. Our first program of 1966, The Thunderbirds. The Rangers first show program – 1971, a 1975 Golden Skyliners program, the 1971 Sertoma program, and a 1969 Royal Lancers program. He also donated the 1970 Optirama scores. Well done! We appreciate your donations!!
Added a new “Highlighted Events” page to the main header. Added 1962 Walla Walla, 1962 World’s Fair, and the new “Salem Optirama” page to the “Highlighted Events” page. Deleted 1962 WW & W-Fair from the main header. I’m trying to keep the header links to a minimum, otherwise I’d have 200 links up there. (Yes, there are 200+ individual pages on this website. Is that crazy or what?!)
See our article in the June 2021 issue of Drum Corps World. Thank you Steve Vickers!
April 2021
Updated the NWDCA Championship list. Last documented championship is now 1983, with an unverified NWDCA event in showing up in 1985. Anybody with information on any NWDCA show, please drop us an email so we can update our data. Thx.
An introduction to our site was published in Drum Corps Planet (.com) on April 4th. How cool is that?!! The more folks who know about our history, the more that history lives on.
Screen shot used with permission from Drum Corps Planet (thanks guys!)
Added “Seattle Cadet Corps” history document that attempts to clarify the origins of the Seattle Cascades & Thunderbird Cadets. For those of you not familiar with this topic, it is a tad controversial with members of both corps. Some passions run a little high with folks on both sides trying to lay claim to the same history. Us Seattleites love our drum corps!! As usual, if you have insight on the topic, don’t hesitate to send us an email. We respond to all communications promptly.
Updated:
- Added an interesting local (loco?) nugget to “Odds & Ends”.
- Added a 1974 news photo to the Spartans & Oregon Crusaders pages.
- Show Flyers page.
Added data that shows the Astoria Sunsetters active in 1974. Interesting, as their last field show was the 1972 NWDCA Championships.
March 2021
We have an ad in the March & April editions of Drum Corps World. If you haven’t seen DCW since the 70s, this will be a real treat. Such a professional publication. Select the hyperlink to see our ad and the issue.
Many thanks to Steve Vickers, DCW publisher/editor/contributor, and keeper of the flame. Your support and dedication to this activity is without equal. We all thank you.
Added material to these pages: Pre-1960 Honorary PNW DC, Spokane Legion Auxiliary DC, Auburn Post #78, Walla Walla Girls, Odds & Ends, Strutters, Calgary Cavaliers, and Pre-1955 Columbians. Added Photos to the 1962 VFW Championships in Walla Walla, Baker Oregon.
Revised Alberta All-Girl & Edmonton All-Girl and added a “Canadian Confusion” page talking about these two corps/bands.
Resolved the unknown retreat photo issue. It is a June 1974 photo of the Sentinels show in Renton. The clue was the airplanes in the upper LH corner of the photo. When I looked up “Renton HS stadium” on the net, I saw that it abutted Boeing Renton. Looking at the photo again, I see the tail of an airplane. I followed the breadcrumbs to the conclusion. (The process was more convoluted than that, but for the sake of brevity…)
Re-worked the “Pre-1960 Corps” page and added new sub-pages. It is now a jumping-off point for all pre-60s corps data. It will continue to evolve in the future. For those of you who like the “Distribution by State” maps, there are now Pre-1960 maps on the Pre-1960s page.
Updated Wash State AL & VFW scores, Oregon State AL scores, and 60s & 70s scores.
February 2021
Added the Tri-Cities Water Follies page describing the grueling Columbia Park parade from 1962 to 1973. Go to: Eastern Washington + Tri-City Columbians + Tri-City Water Follies.
Added items to the “Odds & Ends” page. Added photos to the American Legion Post #9 page (Spokane WA). Added a new “All-Girl Corps” page.
I have been in contact with the Post Historian at American Legion Post #10 in Wenatchee WA. He hooked me up with some awesome photos of their drum corps and gave me a lead on where to gather some more data. He was a great help and I really appreciate his willingness to clarify some issues and give me a hand with my site. I sent him my site link and all the data I had on the Wenatchee Corps. Any new information I find in the future will also be sent to this gentleman. Thanks again John.
Check out the new Post #10 data. Go to: Pre-1960 Drum Corps + Washington State American Legion Corps, scroll down to “Wenatchee” and select it. Then enjoy.
Updated the “Show Scores” page. Performed various minor updates throughout the site (American Legion Corps, Pre-1955 Columbians, New VFW Scores…)
Added new “Oregon AL Corps” page. Oregon AL Scores spreadsheet is in the works. Go to the Pre-1960’s page to get to Oregon AL Corps.
Oh, yeah…Happy birthday bro!
January 2021
Added the “Historical Perspective” page. This is where I will put my ramblings/observations. I don’t think I will have many. The whole point of this site is to let the data do the talking. I don’t mind creating spreadsheets of data because they are inherently benign, but ramblings? Maybe not so much. We’ll see.
Added 1963 Chicago Cavaliers photo to the ’63 VFW National Championships page. Added a Stockton Commodores photo to the 1970 AL Championships page.
Re-configured the “Show Programs” page. Added a 1970 Shamrocks Show Program.
Reformatted the American Legion DC page to follow the junior corps format. May as well be consistent, right?
Happy New Year! Hope everyone made it through the holidays ok. Stay safe and be well in 2021. PNWDC.com
December 2020
I was contacted by a former Percussion-Naut Patriot. He helped me fix some photo dates and revise their history to be more accurate. I appreciate the time he took to get me headed in the right direction. In the process, the NWDCA History document was revised too. Added new Pats photos. Added U-tube link to Patriots history. Thank you Tom!!
Added PNW DCI Standings to the “Governing Bodies” page.
Added NWDCA Champions to the “Governing Bodies” page.
Added news photos and/or photos to: Hawks, Flamingos, 1st Canadian Regiment, Seattle Cascades, Percussion-Nauts, Shamrocks, and Drifters.
Added a beautiful 1938 photo of American Legion senior corps to “Odds & Ends” page. Enjoy.
Added an unknown 1974 retreat photo. I’ll need your help to identify a couple of drum majors and the show itself.
Happy Holidays to all you folks out there. BE SAFE. COVID doesn’t care who you are.
November 27, 2020
Updated Mariner, Sunsetters, The Who?, and Marauder information to show that Bill Perkins was a common thread throughout those corps. Revised the “Introduction” page corps list format (content is the same). Welcome new members!!
Hope everybody had a safe Thanksgiving Holiday.
November 25, 2020
Good news. The material donated earlier this month yielded some great stuff. First, a 1977 show program which gave us another data point for the score spreadsheet AND a photo of the elusive Port Orchard Guardsman DC. Another “No Photo Available” bites the dust. Second, score data for another THREE shows bringing the total added to FOUR. This was great because it this point I really have to scrounge for a single show score. Third, paraphernalia. Lots of it. Added photos of Argonauts, Royal Lancers, and Seattle Cascades paraphernalia to the site. Fourth, lots of corps newsletters and sheet music that I have digitized, but not put on the site as of yet. Check out the comparison photo below: Click for a larger image.
Much thanks to the donor of the material. I will be contacting you soon to return your items plus a thumb drive containing all of the electronic copies that I have made.
Remember, get your corps friends to donate electronic copies of their stuff. See the “Introduction” for complete details.
Thank you everyone!!
November 17, 2020
Under “Governing Bodies” + AL and VFW, I added Washington & Oregon AL Corps links and all sub-pages including; a page of 22 vintage photos of AL corps from 1927 thru 1957, and a Washington State AL Champion list from 1919 to 1980, plus other goodies for you like-minded DC geeks out there. Added a link from the “Pre-1960’s” page to the AL pages, so if you’re into vintage photos, you can dive deeper, quicker, if you wish.
My ultimate goal is to bucket the AL data and the VFW data separately. I think I’m gonna need bigger buckets….
I didn’t intend to deep dive again, but I ended up searching 1919 and forward. Kinda outta scope for this site, but its segregated from the general 1960 & 1970 stuff. We used to call that “scope creep” at work. Remember kids, define your parameters and adhere to them. Do as I say, not as I…….never mind.
November 5, 2020
Added “Retreat Photos” page. Added 20 articles to “Historic PNWDC News”. Added photos to several corps pages. Updated “Show Scores”.
Just got a donation of documents. I am going to make electronic copies of all items, then return the originals plus a thumb drive containing all the electronic copies to the donator. Should be done sometime this month.
I find myself deep-diving into the Washington State American Legion Championship shows from 1919 to 1960. I find this era of drum corps fascinating, but does it belong on this website? Dunno. I will gather data like the OCD person I am, and then when I am finished, I might create a page or four with this data. Or, I might not. I must stay focused though. Tangential thinking is not always good. Enquiring minds want to know, yes? Stay tuned.
Donate data!! Tell your friends to donate data!!! Read the Introduction for more information. Stay safe and well out there. COVID es no bueno.
October 26, 2020
Updated the “Show Scores” page. Added the RH column showing the revision date so folks could see what score/show was added when. Added 1950’s American Legion scores. This was before the junior corps came into fruition. Still good data and adds to the senior corps history.
Updated the Columbians history by adding the “Pre-1955 Columbians” page. I actually emailed AL Post 34 asking for biographical data on Mr. Glen and his corps. We’ll see if they respond. November 2020 update – they did not respond.
October 16, 2020
I somehow got into a deep dive into the 1971 season. I think it started as a NWDCA related search. I added A LOT of Patriots information, 1971 NWDCA data under the “Historic PNWDC News” page, added to Drifters, Golden Skyliners, Flamingos, Argonauts, Grenadiers, Strutters, BC Ambassadors, Linksmen, Mustangs, Sentinels, Pacific Blue, and some others. Added NWDCA History document under “Governing Bodies”. The wife wants the computer now. She’s so patient with my obsession. I am grateful.
See you folks later. Stay safe out there.
WM
October 3, 2020
Updated the “Show Scores” page. We now have 214 contests listed. Added data to Marauders, Pacific Blue, Hurricanes, Blue Knights, Pre-1960’s Corps, Renaissance, and the Big Sky Reveliers. Added a whole bunch of pre-1960 news articles covering mostly senior corps of the AL & VFW. Added photos to senior corps pages.
I finally deciphered the date for the World’s Fair Championship show. There is conflicting data, but the date is June 19, 1962.
The August 29,1962 DCN article has the show date as July 29, which is the same day as the Music in Motion show, DCX has a Seattle show listed for June 19, but lists the participants and scores for the July 29th Music in Motion show, and the record itself has no show date on it at all. By using the St Paul Scouts 1962 score history in DCX, I can see that the show was in fact on June 19, 1962 which fits the timeline of the World’s Fair and John Broderick (Shamrocks Director) inviting the Troopers to the Walla Walla show on June 23rd (on their way home to Wyoming). To top it off, I have a 1962 list of Thunderbirds “accomplishments” that doesn’t even list the World’s Fair show, and it’s their show. Any-who, that’s not totally unexpected given all of the documents are 58 years old. On to the next task.
Welcome new members!
September 20, 2020
Added Knights of Pythias to Oregon Corps page and deleted them from the “Pre-1960 Corps” page. Split “Oregon Corps” into “Western Oregon & Eastern Oregon” pages. Updated Columbians history, Show Flyers, American Legion / VFW Ephemera, and Odds & Ends page.
September 5, 2020
Under the Equipment History page:
Added 1930 & 1955 Ludwig drum corps instructional manuals to the “Instructional” page and the 1896 Lilley Uniform catalogue to the “Other Equipment” page. Both documents are incomplete.
August 15, 2020
I’m going to deviate from the usual website update news to tell you what happened to me today.
I sold a vintage Olds Ultratone soprano (rotor / piston) to a gentleman who was an early member of the Thunderbirds and the Cascade Cadets. He was the brother of someone I knew back in 1973. Small, small world. This is the first person that I have met, that actually played a single piston horn in competition. It was a true joy to chat with this gentleman for several minutes. He was a walking, talking, piece of history. So cool.
I wish you well my friend.
Take Care.
August 2, 2020
Created corps specific paraphernalia and ephemera pages where needed and moved some content around from general pages to the new corps specific ones. New “Show Flyers” page was the old general “Ephemera” page. Added a “Historic PNWDC News” page. Updated “Show Scores”.
Tell your drum corps friends to come and visit this site and donate materials so we can expand. See the Introduction for complete details. Thank you!!
July 6, 2020
Added “Paraphernalia” links to Thunderbirds & Cascades. Added corps membership cards to Shamrocks & Black Watch. Added “Random Photo” page to the Cascades.
I need to drag more stuff out of the garage and get it online. Let’s see……….go outside and pull weeds, or stay inside and photograph dusty stuff….Hmmmmm.
July 1, 2020
Added “Equipment History” page and associated documents. Added photos of Amigos, CYO Squires, Shamrocks, LK Corps, Mustangs, and Bel-Airs. Updated Washington State map. Added “Help Needed” page. Updated “Scores”.
June 14, 2020
Added “Odds & Ends”, “Ephemera”, “Drill Teams”, and “Wanted” pages. Updated Cascades and Thunderbirds data / links. Updated 1963 VFW Nats. Added documents to 1965 & 1970 American Legion Championships. Added missing photos, updated “Scores”, and lots of general mucking around.
May 18, 2020
Mt St Helens blew today in 1980. We were all considerably younger, yes?
We now have web mail on the “contact us” page and a discussion board in the header. I have no idea how the discussion board will work. I have never used one.
The content is more robust too. All We need is to be found by the major search engines. Patience Grasshopper, patience.
May 11, 2020
Welcome to the site. Needless to say, it’s not finished. Novice webmaster here, but I figured some content is better than no content. I’m sure there will be glitches, dead ends, and who knows what. Be patient. I am learning on the job.
The contact info is not correct. No website email capability yet. No discussion / posting yet. Pretty sad shape actually, but I will get there.
After we’re up and running 100%, we’d love to collect more data from you folks. I’m sure you’ve got some old programs stuffed in a box that I can borrow or beg you to send me a pdf so I can share it on the site.
Hang tight and come back to visit now and then.
Webmaster