Scout House Returning To Hornell, NY
After Preston Scout House Bugle Band made a spectacular debut performance in Hornell, New York in 1960, organizers of the 1961 event promoted the show with bumper stickers that stated simply, “Scout House is coming back!”
On July 13, Preston Scout House Alumni Band is coming back to Music Under The Stars for the second year in a row, with a field show marking the 75th anniversary year of the organization’s founding in 1938 as a new activity for members of the 1st Preston Boy Scout Troop, under the leadership of Wilf Blum, one of the first Canadians inducted into the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame.
The performance in Hornell will be the second Scout House field appearance this season, following the anniversary year debut in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania on July 6. The Band has already appeared in a number of high profile anniversary year events, including making its first appearance at Mighty St. Joe’s Classic alumni concert in Rochester, New York; the annual Spring Opening arena show in Preston, which this year also featured the Preston Scout House Cadets youth drum line and performances by the Ventures and St. John’s winter colour guards; the Perry 200 Grand Patriotic Parade in Erie, Pennsylvania, one of several events taking place over two years to mark the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812-1814.
Scout House moves onto the exhibition field after taking top awards in two major parades: the Burlington Sound of Music Festival Grande Parade on June 15 and the Preston July 1 Canada Day parade. Both parades had spectators lining the entire parade route: about a mile and a half in Burlington and a mile through downtown Preston. The Burlington Sound of Music Festival is rated as one of Canada’s top outdoor music festivals, attracting more than 200,000 over four days of free entertainment, mainly in the city’s downtown Lake Ontario waterfront park. The Canada Day parade in Preston is an annual favourite of Band members, as spectators respond enthusiastically with applause, cheers and shout-outs to individual Band members.
Immediately after the parade, more than 250 Band members, Scout House alumni, relatives and friends attended the Band’s 75th year anniversary barbecue at the Preston Knights of Columbus building, the Band’s winter indoor rehearsal facility.
The Band’s field show schedule resumes in August with performances in Oshawa, Ontario; Rochester, New York and Annapolis, Maryland. The highlight of the Band’s summer performance schedule will be the 4th annual Scout House Invitational Tattoo, at University Stadium in Waterloo, Ontario on Saturday, August 10. The Tattoo line up includes Hawthorne Caballeros Alumni Drum and Bugle Corps, Hawthorne, New Jersey; Les Diplomates du Quebec Alumni Drum and Bugle Corps, Quebec City, Quebec; Mighty St. Joe’s Alumni Drum and Bugle Corps, LeRoy, New York; Empire Statesmen Drum and Bugle Corps, Rochester, New York; Optimists Alumni Drum and Bugle Corps, Toronto, Ontario; Burlington Teen Tour Band, Burlington, Ontario; Preston Scout House Alumni Band and Preston Scout House Cadets youth drum line.
Members of other groups have been invited to participate in the Tattoo’s special section performances, including Durham Girls alumni in the massed horn line rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone and provincial champion M. M. Robinson High School drum line of Burlington participating in the drum line standard Three Camps.
For more information about Scout House Alumni Band, contact Activities Director Nancy Weiler at telephone (519) 653-3376, email prestonscouthouseband [dot] adm [at] sympatico [dot] ca or visit the Web site at http://www.scouthouseband.com/
Information about Preston Scout House Cadets is available from Del Barclay at: gascap [at] golden [dot] net or Jim Pratt at: kusankusho [at] hotmail [dot] com.
