No Drum Corps Show In DeKalb This Year

The martial sounds of drum and brass that for nearly all of the last 27 summers could be heard wafting across DeKalb will be a lot rarer this year.

Milwaukee-based Drum Corps Midwest, which has been holding drum corps competitions in DeKalb since the late 1970s, suspended its operations in November.

Other than practice sessions by at least one drum and bugle corps at Northern Illinois University’s Huskie Stadium, that means people will have to go elsewhere to hear the precision marching groups.

“The organization has kind of gone dormant,” said DCM Executive Director Roman Blenski. “The membership has kind of splintered up a little bit.”

Blenski said the Division I, or larger drum corps, split from the organization two years ago, and without their participation it was difficult to make the competition work financially. The competitions had been held at Northern Illinois University’s Huskie Stadium.

“DCM can’t afford to do the shows anymore,” said Mike Embrey of FunME events in DeKalb. Embrey had worked with DCM to promote the competitions and acted as a local liaison for the group.

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