Statesmen Moving Closer To Bucs At Binghamton
Reading Buccaneers are still cruising down the river ahead of everybody else, but Rochester’s Empire Statesmen are splashing closely behind, finishing less than two points behind the Bucs in the Sounds on the Susquehanna contest in Binghamton, New York on August 4.
Buccaneers, still undefeated in 2007, won the contest with 90.288 points, with Statesmen cruising into second place with 88.313. Syracuse Brigadiers were third, with 85.750. Rochester Crusaders scored 80.781 to finish fourth. Dansville White Sabers finished fifth with 68.494. The Bucs are still undefeated in Drum Corps Associates (DCA) contests this season. Statesmen, who have won two contests this summer, had high field percussion score in Binghamton, with the Brigs taking the top color guard score. The Bucs were tops in all other categories.
In contests earlier this season, Statesmen have finished third three times, behind front-running Buccaneers and Hawthorne Caballeros. The Statesmen and Caballeros will meet again next weekend in Kingston, New York’s March of Champions. Also on the march in Kingston are Sunrisers, White Sabers, Connecticut Hurricanes and Bushwackers.
The next time the Statesmen, Buccaneers and Caballeros meet on the same field will be during the DCA championship tournament on Labor Day weekend. On August 18, the Statesmen will compete against five corps in the Pageant of Drums, sponsored by Brigadiers, in Alliance Bank Stadium in Syracuse. In addition to the Statesmen, the Pageant, one of four DCA contests on August 18, features Fusion Core, Rochester Crusaders, White Sabers, Sunrisers and Brigadiers.
The Statesmen’s final tune-up before the DCA championship weekend will be Fanfare 2007 in West Haven, Connecticut on August 25. The Fanfare, sponsored by Connecticut Hurricanes, will feature Fusion Core, Sunrisers, Bushwackers, Hurricanes and Empire Statesmen.
The 2007 contest season winds up with Statesmen sponsoring the DCA world championship tournament on Labor Day weekend in Rochester’s downtown PAETEC Park stadium.
The weekend schedule includes the popular Individual and Ensemble competition on Friday evening, August 31 in downtown Rochester, the 32nd annual banquet and induction ceremony of the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame, the DCA Class A and Open Class preliminaries beginning at 2 pm and running through the evening of Saturday, August 1, the Alumni Classic field show exhibition starting at 10 am on Sunday, September 2 and the DCA finals beginning at 5:30 pm on Sunday evening to determine the 2007 DCA world champions.
Ten of the 42 DCA championships from 1965 to 2006 have been held in Rochester: four from 1968 to 1971; four from 1973 to 1976; in 1996 and 2006. Ticket information about the 2007 championship weekend is available through the DCA website, at http://www.dcacorps.org/
The Empire Statesmen organization 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 Statesmen also operate the Empire Cadets marching band for area boys and girls as a community outreach program. Both groups regularly perform in winter concerts, at no cost to organizers, to help support various school and community music programs.
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.
The organization kicked off a major capital fund raising campaign during the 2006 DCA tournament. Funds will be used to support the operations of the Empire Statesmen and Empire Cadets and other charitable and education activities.
For information, call (585) 266-2232 or visit the Empire Statesmen Web site at: www.statesmen.org
