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On Friday three corps will be pratcing right around J Birney Crum Stadium. Beatrix will be in the park across from the stadium, Jersey Surf will be at the Allentown Fairgrounds (about 3 blocks north of the stadium) and Carolina Crown will be at Fountain Park at 10th and Martin Luther King Drive. On Saturday only Carolina Crown will be pratcing near the stadium.

Hopefully the following will be helpful info. about the 2008 Allentown DCI East show Key times Friday and Saturday at the stadium 10am the Information RV opens at gate 1 on Linden St. 1 pm Ticket window and “will call” opens at gate 1-Linden St. 4:15 pm Ticket windows on Turner Street open 5 pm stadium opens for spectators 6:20 introductions and anthems 6:30 first corps steps off . 10:30 Awards and scores Corps step-off times are posted on the DCI web site. Location of J Birney Crum Stadium J Birney Crum Stadium is located on the western side of Allentown at 20th & Linden Streets. If you are using Mapquest use the address-2027 W Linden St Allentown 18104 for the stadium. Directions to the stadium are posted on the DCI web site J Birney Crum stadium information Spectator entry is at Gates 1 and 4 at the East end of the stadium and Gate 3 at the West end of the stadium. Gate 3 is the handicap entrance. Gate 1 is on Linden Street and is where “Will Call” tickets can be picked up. Gates 3 & 4 are on Turner Street. (Top of stadium) Tickets will be on sale at gates 1, 3 and 4. The gate 1 ticket window will open at 1pm both days. Gates 3 and 4 ticket windows will open at 4:15pm. Gates will open at 5pm, the competition starts at 6:30 pm, finale about 10:30 pm If weather is threatening rain gear, including an umbrella, is allowed in the stadium There are NO rain dates for these shows. They will not be rescheduled. The upper deck, sections X-Y-Z is closed because of structural problems. General admission sections are A-B-C and N-O-P. The local DCI East committee will be manning a Headquarters RV Outside Gate 1 on Linden St The RV is where you can get local information, show information and directions to the corps housing sites. The RV will be open at noon on Friday and 10am on Saturday. Stadium area parking In the park across from the stadium people can park on the paved lots No parking on the grass is permitted. ALL handicap parking will be on Turner Street behind the concert side bleachers (top of stadium) between Gates 3 and 4 Gate 3 is the handicap entrance and the easiest access for walking into the stadium. Corps housing sites: 1.Santa Clara DHH Lengel MS Pottsville 2.Carolina Crown Raub M.S. Allentown 3.The Cadets Upper Darby HS Drexel Hill 4.Phantom Regiment Hunterdon Central HS Flemington NJ 5.Boston Crusaders Laurer MS Easton 6.Madison Scouts North Schuylkill H.S. Ashland 7.Spirit Site pending 8.Troopers Schuylkill Haven H.S. Schuylkille 9.Pacific Crest Salisbury M.S. Allentown 10.Cavaliers Penn State Schuylkill Schuylkille 11. Colts South M.S. Perkasie 12. Glassmen Pennridge North MS Perkasie 13. Blue Stars Salisbury H.S. Allentown 14. Blue Devils Hempfield HS Landisville 15. Bluecoats Northern Lehigh HS Slatington 16. Blue Knights Daniel Boone HS Birdsboro 17. Pioneer Saint Clare School 18. Crossmen Twin Valley H.S. Elverson 19. Mandarins Freedom HS Bethlehem 20. The Academy Pocono Mountain H.S.- Swiftwater 21. Beatrix Allen H.S. Allentown Hotels If you call The Lehigh Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau at 1-800-747-0561 they can tell you which properties have rooms.

2007 Allentown Step-Off Times Saturday Lineup 5:00 Gates open 6:30 Reading Buccaneers 6:47 Jersey Surf 7:04 Troopers 7:21 Pacific Crest 7:38 Southwind 7:55 Spirit from JSU 8:12 Intermission (17 min.) 8:29 Boston 8:46 Madison 9:03 Carolina Crown 9:20 Santa Clara 9:37 Phantom 9:54 Cadets Sunday Lineup 5:00 Gates open 6:30 Bridgemen Alumni 6:47 Pioneer 7:04 Seattle Cascades 7:21 Crossmen 7:38 Blue Stars 7:55 Colts 8:12 Intermission (17 min.) 8:29 Glassmen 8:46 Blue Knights 9:03 Blue Devils 9:20 Bluecoats 9:37 Cavaliers

Crossmen Housing site Philip F. Lauer Middle School 2400 Firmstone Street, Easton, PA 18042-6038

Crossmen housing site is Laurer Middle Schoolo in Easton Pa.

Does this mean no one will be rehearsing BESIDE the stadium? Is this the end of an annual event? This is not the end of an annual event. When a corps is housed at Allen High School they will pratice at the stadium. Allen was not available this year.

Hopefully the following will be helpful info. about the 2007 DCI East show Key times Saturday and Sunday at the stadium 10am Sat and Sunday the Information RV opens at gate 1 on Linden St. 2 pm Ticket window and “will call” opens at gate 1-Linden St. 4 pm Ticket windows at all gates open 5 pm stadium opens for spectators 6:20 introductions and anthems 6:30 first corps steps off Sat. Reading Bucs and Sunday Bridgemen Alumni. 10:30 Awards and scores Location of J Birney Crum Stadium J Birney Crum Stadium is located on the western side of Allentown at 20th & Linden Streets. If you are using Mapquest use the address-2027 W Linden St Allentown 18104 for the stadium. Directions to the stadium from I-78: Coming from the West (Harrisburg) use exit 54-Hamilton Blvd. and Rt 222. Follow the signs towards Dorney Park. Turn left at the bottom of the exit ramp. The stadium will be on your left. (One block off Hamilton Blvd.) 2.5 miles from I-78. (NOTE- there is construction at this exit on Rt 222 and often traffic backs up on to I-78. If this is occurring proceed to the next exit at Cedar Crest Blvd. At the end of the exit ramp turn left and follow the directions below.) Coming from the East (New Jersey) use exit 55 Cedar Crest Blvd. and Rt.29 Turn right at the end of the exit ramp and proceed to Hamilton Blvd. (Perkins Restaurant on left corner) Turn right. The stadium will be 1.4 miles on your left one block off Hamilton Blvd. Directions from the PA Turnpike- Take the Lehigh Valley exit. Go east on Rt 22 to Rt. 309 south. Proceed to the second exit, Hamilton Blvd. Follow the signs towards Dorney Park. Turn left at the bottom of the exit ramp. The stadium will be on your left. (One block off Hamilton Blvd.) 2.5 miles from I 78. (NOTE- there is construction at this exit on Rt 222 and often traffic backs up on to I-78. If this is occurring proceed to the next exit at Cedar Crest Blvd. turn left from ramp and follow the direction above for drivers from NJ) . Directions from Rt 22. Coming from the east exit at 15th Street. Turn left off exit ramp and go under 22. Stay on 15th until you come to Linden St. Turn right and you will go right out to the stadium. Coming from the west exit at Cedar Crest Blvd. Turn left on Cedar Crest and proceed to Hamilton Blvd. Turn left at Perkins and take Hamilton Blvd. The stadium will be 1.4 miles on your left one block off Hamilton Blvd. Allentown stadium information Spectator entry is at Gates 1 and 4 at the East end of the stadium and Gate 3 at the West end of the stadium. Gate 3 is the handicap entrance. Gate 1 is on Linden Street and is where “Will Call” tickets can be picked up. Gates 3 & 4 are on Turner Street. (Top of stadium) Tickets will be on sale at gates 1, 3 and 4. The gate 1 ticket window will open at 2pm both days. Gates 3 and 4 ticket windows will open at 4pm. Gates will open at 5pm, the competition starts at 6:30 pm, finale about 10:30 pm If weather is threatening rain gear, including an umbrella, is allowed in the stadium There are NO rain dates for these shows. They will not be rescheduled. The upper deck, sections X-Y-Z is closed because of structural problems. General admission sections are A-B-C and N-O-P. The local DCI East committee will be manning a Headquarters RV Outside Gate 1 on Linden St The RV is where you can get local information, show information and directions to all the corps housing sites. The RV will be open from 10 am both Saturday and Sunday. Stadium area parking In the park across from the stadium people can park on the paved lots No parking on the grass is permitted. ALL handicap parking will be on Turner Street behind the concert side bleachers (top of stadium) between Gates 3 and 4 Gate 3 is the handicap entrance and the easiest access for walking into the stadium. Corps housing sites: DCI East Saturday corps housing 1.Santa Clara Kutztown University 2.Carolina Crown Raub M.S. Allentown 3.The Cadets Pleasant Valley H. S. 4.Phantom Regiment Hunterdon Central 5.Boston Crusaders Valley Forge Military Wayne 6.Madison Scouts North Schuylkill H.S. 7.Spirit East Hills M.S. Bethlehem 8.Southwind Salisbury H.S. Allentown 9.Troopers Schuykill Haven H.S. 10.Pacific Crest Salisbury M.S. Allentown DCI East Sunday housing sites 11. Cavaliers Valley Forge Military - Wayne 12. Colts South M.S. - Perkasie 13. Glassmen CF Patton M.S. 14. Blue Stars Twin Valley H.S. 15. Blue Devils Reading H.S. 16. Bluecoats Conrad Weiser H.S.- Robesonia 17. Blue Knights Pocono Mountain H.S.- Swiftwater 18. Pioneer Salisbury H.S. Allentown 19. Crossmen Site pending 20. Seattle Cascades Saucon Valley H.S. Hellertown Carolina Crown will be just a few block south of the stadium at Raub Middle School. They are the only corps this year staying in an Allentown School District school. No competing corps will be practicing at the stadium this year. As in past years, we have printed up directions from J Birney Crum stadium to all the corps housing sites. You may pick up a copy at our headquarters RV located outside gate 1 on Linden St. Hotels If you call The Lehigh Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau at 1-800-747-0561 they can tell you which properties have rooms The DCI East Committee phone number is 610-966-2914. We are selling tickets at this number through Thursday July 5th. and will be able to answer any local question you may have.

It may be of interest to those of you familiar with the saga of J Birney Crum Stadium and the future of DCI East in Allentown to know that the DCI East Committee has been informed that DCI will return to Allentown in 2008. The show will go back to the first weekend in August, just prior to the championships in Indy. It will also go back to being held on Friday and Saturday night. When J Birney Crum's upper deck was declared unusable in 2006 there was talk of the show moving after the 2007 event. At least for 2008 it will not move. No decisions have been made on the location of the show after 2008. The upper deck of the stadium is still in place but still off limits for any event being held in the stadium. I have been informed monies are being sought to make repairs to it. but this may be a long shot given the financial condition of the Allentown School District. We recieved another interesting bit of information on this years show, as of now it is planned for the Reading Bucs to perform in exibition on Saturday night and the Bridgemen Alumni to return again and perform on Sunday night. Both exibitions will be at 6:30 prior to the competition.

The Bridgemen were by far the hit of the weekend. They played music people recognized, could remember when leaving the stadium and could get into. The crowd clapped along with the music, shouted "welcome back", and were on their feet over and over. There was an electricity in the air between the corps and the fans the likes of which I have not felt in years. Some people around me had tears in their eyes. More than one person was heard to say "why can't the corps today entertain the fans like this. We need a VK or Bridgemen type corps to bring some fun back into the shows". It was pure crowd pleasing entertainment and the crowd could not get enough of it. Here is one example of the type of emotion that existed last night. My wife and I were walking off the field toward the corps gate well after the Bridgeman had left the field. As we got around the goal posts a single Bridgemen horn player walked onto the field faced the stands, now empty, raised both arms and said "one more time". He then bent down and patted the turf. One more time indeed. We need more one more times like this. I suspect this was a night the Bridgemen corps members will not soon forget, neither will the fans and I know I won't. Thanks Bridgemen for your outstanding performance

I_78 at exit 54 coming from the west at Hamilton Blvd. this morning was terrible. Backed up on to I-78 as people get off for Dorney Park. If coming from the west stay on 78 to the next exit 55 at Cedar Crest Blvd. At the end of the exit ramp turn left and go under 78. Proceed to Hamilton Blvd. You will know you are there because there is a Perkins on the left corner and a huge American flag. Turn right on Hamilton and you are 1.4 miles from the stadium. It will be one block off to your left. Look or the crowds that are there now watching Blue Devils praticing. Also we have fans reporting it is taking forever coming from Reading on 222. The problem is at that same I-78 interchange and getting past Dorney Park.

No parking lot improvements at all. City streets are your best bet. At the stadium Phantom will be pratcing Friday and the Blue devils Sat. Carolina Crown is about 6 blocks away and Boston an easy drive to their housing site.

[ See the post of 7/30 DCI East Allentown Spectator Information. Housing site are there. Housing sites not finalized for all the corps yet.

Hopefully the following will answer most of your questions about DCI East Allentown. It is posted by the DCI East Committee chairman Bob Bennett. Key times Friday and Saturday at the stadium Noon Fri. and 10am Sat. Information RV opens at gate 1 on Linden St. 2 pm Ticket window and “will call” opens at gate 1-Linden St. 4 pm Ticket windows at all gates open 5 pm stadium opens for spectators 6:20 introductions and anthems 6:30 first corps steps off Friday-Jubal and Saturday Reading Bucs. 10:30 Awards and scores 10:45 Finale- Friday - Phantom & Cavaliers will perform Saturday - Bridgemen Alumni Corps Location of J Birney Crum Stadium J Birney Crum Stadium is located on the western side of Allentown at 20th & Linden Streets, which is in the vicinity of Cedar Beach Park and the Allentown Fairgrounds. Directions to the stadium from I-78: Coming from the West (Harrisburg) use exit 54-Hamilton Blvd. and Rt 222. Follow the signs towards Dorney Park. Turn left at the bottom of the exit ramp. The stadium will be on your left. (One block off Hamilton Blvd.) 2.5 miles from I-78. (NOTE- there is construction at this exit on Rt 222 and often traffic backs up on to I-78. If this is occurring proceed to the next exit at Cedar Crest Blvd. At the end of the exit ramp turn left and follow the directions below.) Coming from the East (New Jersey) use exit 55 Cedar Crest Blvd. and Rt.29 Turn right at the end of the exit ramp and proceed to Hamilton Blvd. (Perkins Restaurant on left corner) Turn right. The stadium will be 1.4 miles on your left one block off Hamilton Blvd. Directions from the PA Turnpike- Take the Lehigh Valley exit. Go east on Rt 22 to Rt. 309 south. Proceed to the second exit, Hamilton Blvd. Follow the signs towards Dorney Park. Turn left at the bottom of the exit ramp. The stadium will be on your left. (One block off Hamilton Blvd.) 2.5 miles from I 78. (NOTE- there is construction at this exit on Rt 222 and often traffic backs up on to I-78. If this is occurring proceed to the next exit at Cedar Crest Blvd. turn left from ramp and follow the direction above for drivers from NJ) . Directions from Rt 22. Coming from the east exit at 15th Street. Turn left off exit ramp and go under 22. Stay on 15th until you come to Linden St. Turn right and you will go right out to the stadium. Coming from the west exit at Cedar Crest Blvd. Turn left on Cedar Crest and proceed to Hamilton Blvd. Turn left at Perkins and take Hamilton Blvd. The stadium will be 1.4 miles on your left one block off Hamilton Blvd. Allentown stadium information Spectator entry is at Gates 1 and 4 at the East end of the stadium and Gate 3 at the West end of the stadium. Gate 3 is the handicap entrance. Gate 1 is on Linden Street and is where “Will Call” tickets can be picked up. Gates 3 & 4 are on Turner Street. (Top of stadium) Tickets will be on sale at gates 1, 3 and 4. The gate 1 ticket window will open at 2pm both days. Gates 3 and 4 ticket windows will open at 4pm. Gates will open at 5pm, the competition starts at 6:30 pm, finale about 10:30 pm If weather is threatening rain gear, including an umbrella, is allowed in the stadium There are NO rain dates for these shows. They will not be rescheduled. Also the upper deck, sections X-Y-Z is closed because of structural problems. The local DCI East committee will be manning a Headquarters RV Outside gate 1 on Linden St The RV is where you can get local information, show information and directions to all the corps housing sites. The RV will be manned from noon on Friday and 10 am Saturday. Stadium area parking In the park across from the stadium people can park on the roads through the park and on the paved lots No parking on the grass is permitted this year because of the excessive rainfall we have had.. ALL handicap parking will be on Turner Street behind the concert side bleachers (top of stadium) between Gates 3 and 4. There will be NO handicap parking on Linden Street Gate 3 is the handicap entrance and the easiest access for walking into the stadium. City streets and the area by the Allentown Fairgrounds are your other parking choices. Corps housing sites as of 7/30/2006 DCI East Friday corps housing Blue Stars U of Pa Philadelphia Boston Trexler MS Allentown Cavaliers Site pending Cadets Pleasant Valley HS Capital Regiment Saucon Valley HS Hellertown Colts South MS Perkasie Esperanza United Sports Training Center Downingtown Glassmen Site pending Magic Site pending Mandarens South Mountain MS Allentown Phantom Wm Allen HS Allentown Jubal Valley Forge Military Academy. Wayne DCI East Saturday corps housing sites Blue Devils Wm Allen HS Allentown Bluecoats Conrad Weiser HS Robesonia Blue Knights Whitehall HS Allentown Carolina Crown Raub MS Allentown Crossmen CF Patton MS Madison Blue Mt HS Pacific Crest Salisbury MS Allentown Pioneer Valley Forge Military Academy. Wayne Santa Clara Site pending Seattle Cascades Northern Lehigh HS Slatington Southwind Salisbury HS Allentown Spirit East Hills MS Bethlehem At this time housing sites for four corps are still being finalized. I will post them when I get them. The Wm Allen HS corps will be practicing on the fields just west of the stadium on Linden St. On Friday Phantom Regiment will be there and on Saturday the Blue Devils will be there. Carolina Crown will be just a few block south of the stadium at Raub Middle School and Boston will be just off 15th St, east of the stadium at Trexler Middle School. As in past years, we have printed up directions from J Birney Crum stadium to all the corps housing sites. You may pick up a copy at our headquarters RV located outside gate 1 on Linden St. We will be opening this information center at noon on Friday and 10am on Saturday. Hotels If you call The Lehigh Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau at 1-800-747-0561 and they can tell you which properties have rooms The DCI East Committee phone number is 610-966-5344. We are selling tickets at this number through Thursday Aug. 3rd. and will be able to answer any local question you may have.

On Saturday night the Bucs will be on at 6:30 and the Bridgemen will perform after scores are announced at about 10:30. On Friday JUBAL will be the first corps to perform at 6:30. Rest of line-up order to be determined this weekend.

This morning (May 1st) the Morning Call in Allentown ran an article on the closing of the upper deck at the stadium. (their link is mcall.com) The article contains a number of quotes from Dan and gives some indication of what the future may hold for DCI East. It is clear to me the upper deck will never be useable again. The school district would love to tear it down but probably do not have the funds even to do that. The show in 2007 will be an early one. Probably first weekend after the 4th. The corps will then start to make their way west. As for 2008 we'll have to wait and see. Bob Bennett