Empire Statesmen second To Buccaneers In Cicero, NY
Rochester’s Empire Statesmen sailed into a solid second place finish in the wake of undefeated Reading Buccaneers in the Pageant of Drums contest in Cicero, New York on August 15. Buccaneers, defending Drum Corps Associates champions, scored 91.975. Statesmen placed second in all 14 score sheet captions for a total score of 88.938.
There’s plenty of turbulence behind the front-running corps this season. Syracuse Brigadiers were third in Cicero, with a score of 84.313. Kingston, Ontario Grenadiers, competing in Class A during their 50th anniversary season in 2009, were fourth with 75.300, almost two full points ahead of fifth place Rochester Crusaders with 72.625. The Dansville, NY White Sabers broke the 70-point mark for the first time this season, finishing sixth with 70.413. The Sunrisers, based on Long Island again after a 25-year absence, were seventh with 63.900. Excelsior, representing the greater capital district of New York and Pittsfield, Massachusetts, scored 56.238 to finish eighth.
The top five eastern corps from last year’s DCA championship tournament, Buccaneers, Connecticut Hurricanes, Statesmen, Hawthorne Caballeros and Bushwackers of Harrison, New Jersey, won’t all meet on the same field again this season until Labor Day weekend, during the 2009 championship tournament in Rochester. The Statesmen and Brigadiers will face each other again in the DCA Brass Fanfare contest in Norwich, New York on August 22. Fanfare 2009 in Bridgeport, Connecticut on August 29, the final contest of the regular season, features Empire Statesmen, Connecticut Hurricanes, Bushwackers and Brigadiers.
For the fourth year in a row, Empire Statesmen are serving as the local host for the DCA championships. Weekend events begin September 4 with individual and ensemble competitions and mini-corps contest on the banks of the Genesee River in downtown Rochester, with free admission to all events and an old-fashioned outdoor drum corps street party.
The Statesmen are five-time DCA world champions and have also won four American Legion national titles and the triple crown: the DCA and American Legion titles and the World Show Band championship in London, England in 1998. Empire Statesmen have finished in the top four during DCA championship tournaments for 21 consecutive years. In addition to winning five championships, the Statesmen have finished in second place six times; in third place six times and in fourth place four times. The World Drum Corps Hall of Fame chose the Empire Statesmen as the senior (all age) corps of the decade for the 1990s.
Formed in 1983, the Statesmen won the International Corps Associates (ICA) championship before joining the ranks of Drum Corps Associates (DCA) in 1986. ICA was founded by the late Vince Bruni of Rochester, who also founded the Empire Statesmen and the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame, to provide performance and competition opportunities for small 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, Mexico and South America. The corps also sponsors the Empire Cadets marching band for city and area youngsters, as a community outreach program.
For more information about the Empire Statesmen organization, visit the website at: www.statesmen.org
