6th Annual Scout House Invitational Tattoo

Popular marching arts groups from Ontario, New York and Pennsylvania will help salute the 50th anniversary of Canada’s national flag during the sixth annual Scout House Invitational Tattoo, to be held on Saturday, August 15, 2015 at University Stadium, 81 Seagram Drive in Waterloo, beginning at 6:30 pm. Gates open at 5:30 pm, rain or shine. Advance tickets are $12. Tickets purchased at the door will be $15, with children under 12 admitted free.

Advance tickets are available at Centre in the Square box office, Kitchener, telephone 1 (800) 265-8977; Preston Towne Home Hardware, King Street, Cambridge; Westgate Village Home Hardware, Cedar Street, Cambridge; Swanson’s Home Hardware, Park Street, Kitchener; Glenbriar Home Hardware, Weber Street, N., Waterloo; members of Scout House Band and Scout House Cadets.
Out of town visitors should reference Scout House Tattoo when booking accommodation at the event host hotel Cambridge Hotel and Conference Centre, 700 Hespeler Road, Cambridge, at telephone (519) 622-1550 or 1 (866) 622-1505 or www.cambridgehotel.ca
Other Tattoo friends and supporters include Pizza Nova, McDonald’s, Husky Energy, C&H Fire Supression, Greg Pautler Graphic Design, City of Cambridge, TD Waterhouse, Long & McQuade and Ayr Coach Lines.

The Tattoo line up includes The Hitmen Brass Band of Rochester, New York; Burlington Teen Tour Band of Burlington, Ontario; Erie Thunderbirds drum and bugle corps of Erie, Pennsylvania; MM Robinson High School Drumline of Burlington Ontario; Preston Scout House Cadets drum and bugle corps of Cambridge, Ontario; United Alumni drum and bugle corps of Simcoe, Ontario and Scout House Band of Cambridge, Ontario.

The Hit Men are a group of “good fellas” who come together from all parts of the western New York area. They provide a performance that combines both musical and the theatrical elements to provide a maximum entertainment event. Field show songs by the group include: Pagliacci, Luck Be A Lady, Just a Closer Walk With Thee.

Seventy five nervous members of the Burlington Boys and Girls Band offered their first performance on December 15, 1947 under the direction of Elgin Corlett, the bandmaster of a travelling circus hired to become the Burlington group’s founder first music director. The Band’s traveling tradition began shortly after in the summer of 1949 when the Band performed at a football game and performed a concert in Warren, Ohio. The group, known as the Burlington Teen Tour Band since 1965, has represented Burlington, the province of Ontario and Canada in countries around the world including England, Republic of Ireland, France, Japan, The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. In North America, the band has performed in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and 15 states from coast to coast in the United States, including most states on the eastern seaboard, Texas, California and Hawaii.

The band has performed for heads of state and royalty, appeared in many television shows and movies and marched in such prestigious events such as the Rose Bowl Parade, the 50th and 60th anniversaries of D-Day, the Orange Bowl Parade, and ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Thunderbirds Drum and Bugle Corps returned to the field of Drum Corps Associates (DCA) competition this summer. Starting in 1993, the Thunderbirds won the DCA Mini Corps championship four years in a row, and also held the title in 1998 and 2002. In earlier years, the corps captured several American Legion and Red Carpet Association (RCA) championships and maintained a top 10 placing in DCA finals until the group disbanded in 1984 because of funding problems.

The Thunderbirds began in 1956 as a parade corps in Meadville, Pennsylvania then in 1968 joined with members of the Shoreliners Drum and Bugle corps from North East, Pennsylvania to form the Erie Thunderbirds.

MM Robinson Drumline won the Drumline Ontario PSA championship title in both 2014 and 2015 and the Ontario Drumline Association championship in 2012 and 2013. The group began five years ago as a small group of students who met in the school cafeteria and practiced on drum pads. The unit now includes more than 30 members who will perform more than 30 times this
season, including school events, school board and community events and other special events across southern Ontario. The drumline has performed at an Ontario Music Educators Association Conference, the Olympic Torch Relay in Hamilton, a Toronto Rock lacrosse team home opener at the Air Canada Centre and on Breakfast Television.

United Alumni Drum and Bugle Corps of Simcoe is the longest continuously operating alumni drum corps in Canada, marching in its17th year for audiences across Ontario, Quebec and several states across the border, winning awards for best marching unit and best musical unit at events including the Montreal St. Patrick’s Day Parade and the West Virginia Strawberry Festival. Members range in age from 14 to 89, representing more than five decades of Ontario drum corps history, dating back to the Simcoe Boy Scout Trumpet Band. After it disbanded in 1953, local groups continuing the tradition included the Simcoe Optimists Band, Royal Blues and Golden Lions drum and bugle corps of Simcoe and Lakeshore Brassmen operating out of Port Dover. United Alumni began in September 1998, following a July reunion for members of all the previous groups.

Preston Scout House Cadets drum and bugle corps began as a drum line, initiated by Scout House Band as part of the 75th anniversary celebrations. The Cadets began activities in September 2012 as a drum line, expanding over the following two years to include horns and a colour guard. The initial five-year plan aims to produce a drum and bugle corps of about 100 members, with an activity schedule including a one-week summer tour of the northeastern United States by the fifth year of activity.

The Cadets reached the gold level of achievement in the Drumline Ontario contest on April 25 in Oakville. Two weeks later, the Cadets competed for the first time in the SoundSport division and were very well received, reaching the bronze level of achievement.

The Cadets rehearse Wednesday evenings at the Scout House building on Queenston Road in the Preston neighbourhood of Cambridge. Boys and girls from ages 10 to 18 are welcome to join at any time of year. No prior marching arts experience is required.

Scout House Band brings a new look to performances on stage, street and field this year. The red, white and black tunic is the first uniform design enhancement since the Band first performed in the spring of 1999 at a Great Alliance of Seniors (GAS) reunion in Mississauga.

Since that first stage concert 16 years ago, Scout House has performed more than 450 parades, concerts and field shows across Ontario and Quebec and 10 American states, from Michigan to Florida.

Scout House Band began in 1938 as an innovative new activity for boys of the First Preston Boy Scout troop. Over the following thirty years, Preston Scout House, named for the building that was home for the troop, became one of the best-known and most popular drum and bugle corps in North America.

The current version of the Band has earned more than 50 plaques, certificates of appreciation, parade prizes and awards including the City of Cambridge cultural award for achievement in music. The men and women in the Band who come from more than 20 communities across Ontario and New York have been associated with more than 70 marching music units in addition to Scout House.

Preston Scout House Band, Inc. is a non-profit corporation with registered charity status able to issue tax receipts to donors, incorporated under the Corporations Act of the Province of Ontario on November 29, 1956.

For more information about Scout House 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/