Empire Statesmen Memorial Day Parades

Thursday, May 24th, 2007 | Filed under DCA News | Posted by

Rochester’s Empire Statesmen will be working hard on all three days of the holiday weekend, to give spectators at two parades an experience to remember.

Statesmen will celebrate Memorial Day weekend with an eight-hour rehearsal session from noon to 8 pm at Total Sports Experience on Saturday, May 26, then another six hour session on Sunday before the first of two parades.

The Statesmen will make their traditional appearance in the annual Memorial Day parade in neighboring Irondequoit, sponsored by American Legion Post 134
. The parade will begin at 5:30 pm on Sunday, May 27.

On Memorial Day, Monday, May 28, the Statesmen step off at 10 am in the Pittsford Memorial Day Parade. The Pittsford parade grand marshal will be Bob Parker, who has served with the town fire department for 50 years. The parade will also include armed forces veterans, some marching and some riding in cards. The Brandon American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) color guard will march, along with individuals in the United States Navy, Marines and Coast Guard representing the Fleet Reserve Association.

The Empire Statesmen’s busy weekend winds up at the end of the Pittsford parade route. On the following weekend, the Empire Statesmen will hit the road: a short trip to Hobart College in Geneva for a weekend of intensive work on the 2007 field show. The first contest of the season is scheduled for June 16 in Wildwood, New Jersey.

Audiences this summer will be enjoy a Statesmen-style tribute to Canadian-born Maynard Ferguson, one of last great trumpet players of the Big Band era, noted for his exceptional power, endurance and high-note command. He passed away in late August 2006 at age 78, of kidney and liver failure.

Again this year, the Statesmen are sponsoring the Vince Bruni Preview of Champions, to be held at St. John Fisher College on Saturday, July 7 and the Drum Corps Associates (DCA) world championship tournament on Labor Day weekend.

Tickets for the Vince Bruni Preview of Champions are available by calling (585) 266-2232. Ticket information about the 2007 DCA championship weekend is available through the DCA website, at http://www.dcacorps.org/

The Empire Statesmen organization, founded by Vince Bruni in 1983, offers opportunities for involvement beyond participating as a performer or support staff volunteer in one of North America’s most popular drum and bugle corps. The Empire Statesmen drum and bugle corps is a self-supporting independent group that represents the city of Rochester across the United States and Canada and as far abroad as Europe, the Caribbean and South America.

For information, call (585) 266-2232 or visit the Empire Statesmen Web site at: www.statesmen.org

Posted by on Thursday, May 24th, 2007. Filed under DCA News.