Where would you go for DCA Finals

[Jeff Ream]

I really love people's reasons for not wanting it to leave the North East when the reason they give is "It's too far away for a weekend trip".

I guess "F the rest of the country" is a good enough answer. 

I mean... if the question is asked for what's best for *YOU*...then ok.  But if we're going to be concerned about the growth of DCA...you have to put your little "Wahhhh it's too far away for me" reasoning.

Little bird whispering in your ear  "Pssst....the majority of DCA corps are NOT from the North East anymore".

PS.  "YOU" and "YOUR" are meant in general terms and not towards anyone in particular.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

just a helpful hint.....i agree with what you say, but your delivery hurts your cause. actually, to be blunt, it turns people against your cause.

[Jeff Ream]

Not as bad as I expected on W-S..... About a two hour drive from my Brother in Laws family in Raleigh. Would probably take a few extra days off and combine a crappy drive past DC and Richmond. Never been in W-S so cool for me....

Syracuse - shorter drive but don;t know what's in the area.

Hershey - DCA better get a air tight contract with HERCO as that's a busy weekend at the Park. Wonder what I can get to rent out our spare bedroom.. ^0^

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

actually, i said that about HersheyPark last year and was shown stats that showed Labor Day isn't as busy at the Park aspeople think.

[Jeff Ream]

Call me stupid ... and even feel free to send me hate mail for expressing my opinion on this topic ... but I think this choice should solely be dictated on whatever will expand the fan base of DCA. 

If I had a choice between winning DCA five times in a row ... or seeing 25,000 fans in the stands and having our corps all become famous ... you wouldn't see a medal around my neck.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

ok tough question then....

say Winston Salem draws what the NE usually does for finals.

is that helping? No offense, but some hypemasters were saying we'd get 10k for the show 2 weeks ago. Even if it hadn't rained, i doubt we would have seen 5,000.

[GovieKruzer]

I really love people's reasons for not wanting it to leave the North East when the reason they give is "It's too far away for a weekend trip".

I guess "F the rest of the country" is a good enough answer. 

I mean... if the question is asked for what's best for *YOU*...then ok.  But if we're going to be concerned about the growth of DCA...you have to put your little "Wahhhh it's too far away for me" reasoning.

Little bird whispering in your ear  "Pssst....the majority of DCA corps are NOT from the North East anymore".

PS.  "YOU" and "YOUR" are meant in general terms and not towards anyone in particular.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

:mmm:

[Geoff]

ok tough question then....

say Winston Salem draws what the NE usually does for finals.

is that helping?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, because you are probably introducing new people to DCA. Those that have never travelled up from the southern states simply because they were unaware of the product being put on the field.

The NE is a proven area for corps. But it's time to find new fans to come out. And if those fans like what they see, and they will, they are more likely to make the trek up to the NE when DCA is put back there.

[notelvis]

Excellent Topic......and as Poodle notes in the post immediately above, there are fans who, once exposed, would follow the DCA Championships 'back north' or wherever else they might go. My wife and I are evidence of that.

To those in the northeast who say "North Carolina is just to far to go for a weekend trip" I'd suggest that you look into relatively cheap Southwest Airlines flights into Raleigh or Airtran flights into Charlotte. It can be done.

Couple of questions and I'll get down to participating in the poll. Why is it that Allentown, PA is not under consideration for DCA Championships in 2006? Did something (uh.......bad) happen with Allentown before my wife and I became DCA converts in 2002?

What is the stadium situation in Syracuse? The baseball park in Scranton is the best baseball stadium for a drum corps show I've ever been in and I particularly like being able to watch prelims downstairs and then catch finals upstairs. The stadium in Winston-Salem is absolutely fantastic for watching drum corps but all concessions are on a single level which may tend to get........overrun.......between corps shows. Frankly, I'd rather travel some distance for a great stadium (even if it meant flying) than drive to a show in a mediocre stadium only a few hours away.

Now the poll:

1) My wife and I live in Mars Hill, NC.......about three hours west of Winston-Salem.

2) We would absolutely love to see DCA in Winston-Salem in 2006 because, as I noted, the stadium is a really good one to watch drum corps in and the fileld is so close to where the bleachers start that even the smallest hornlines should be able to 'get it upstairs'. Oh yeah.......and Winston-Salem is close.

3) Where else would we go to see DCA Championships? Pretty much anywhere.

Here's how that evolved. I helped drive Madison to California in 2002 and came home reporting that the only corps I had really enjoyed seeing were the Renegades and Santa Clara Vanguard Alumni Corps. In August my wife and I flew to Wisconsin for the DCI Finals and found the enjoyment factor to be......well.....not quite worth the effort anymore. (For the record, we have not been back to a DCI finals since. We still attend DCI events near us and I still spend a week or two driving corps buses each summer......it's not a boycott per se, just something we're not going to invest a lot of travel dollars in.)

In a move not far short of desperation, we went to Scranton for DCA 2002 just a few weeks later. It was a combination of what I had seen from the Renegades at the California shows and my recollection of seeing what Minnesota Brass brought at DCM events. In short, we wanted to go to a drum corps event and LOVE what we saw again. In Scranton we loved the mini-corps contest. We loved the field shows. We loved the comraderie. I ran into a guy who had been on my bus a few weeks earlier. He was home from DCI a new Madison age-out and a newer member of his old senior corps in New Jersey. Imagine.

Essentially, we were hooked and we have not missed a DCA Championship since. We drove the 12-14 hours up I-81. Last year we found a relativety cheap direct flight from Charlotte to Harrisburg. This year we've found a not quite so relativetively cheap flight from Charlotte to BWI. We plan to be there for prelims and finals. I suppose my only complaint is that while the new schedule last season made it possible to fly early Saturday morning and see prelims, I do miss getting to see the mini-corps. Being a school counselor with a new school year underway I just can't get 'up north' on Friday evening (although I can 'get away' right after school without having to wait until after the football game like the band director...).

So.......essentially, we plan to go to Scranton for the fourth straight time this year. We are excited by two straight nights of loving drum corps again. Short of anything unexpected, we will probably go to DCA in 2006 wherever it is. But man, we would love Winston-Salem in 2006. That would energize us for another four or five years of going to Hershey or Syracuse or.......hey DCM folks......why not DeKalb, IL at NIU some year.

David

Edited August 13, 2005 by notelvis

[Renegroupie]

1. Where are you from?

2. How many of the three choices would you attend finals in if they are held there next year.

3. Why?

San Francisco

Any of the three

I love DCA

Now let me just add that I think a lot of people in the Noth East are thinking wrongly about the possibility of driving to Winston Salem. FLY THERE. Rent a car. Believe me it makes the trip a hundred times more fun. With the price of gas the way it is (and will be next year), it's can't be that much more expensive. My feeling is if it's more than a four hour drive don't do it. That's why God gave us airplanes. Or maybe the Chatanooga Choo Choo goes nearby???

"Nothin could be finer, than to have your ham and eggs in Carolina."

Start saving your money now and have a good DCA wherever it's held.

[notelvis]

Now let me just add that I think a lot of people in the Noth East are thinking wrongly about the possibility of driving to Winston Salem.  FLY THERE.  Rent a car.  Believe me it makes the trip a hundred times more fun.  With the price of gas the way it is (and will be next year), it's can't be that much more expensive.  My feeling is if it's more than a four hour drive don't do it.  That's why God gave us airplanes.  Or maybe the Chatanooga Choo Choo goes nearby???

"Nothin could be finer, than to have your ham and eggs in Carolina."

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Of course!!!!!! It's not exactly the Chattanooga Choo Choo but Amtrak does have a couple of daily departures to Greensboro (28 miles from Winston-Salem) from New York.

We're not asking for a five year run like Scranton. One DCA in Winston-Salem would be enough to satisfy us for years.

David

[GoldDirector]

ok tough question then....

say Winston Salem draws what the NE usually does for finals.

is that helping? No offense, but some hypemasters were saying we'd get 10k for the show 2 weeks ago. Even if it hadn't rained, i doubt we would have seen 5,000.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Since I am the Corps Director for Carolina Gold (Raleigh, NC) who happens to LIVE in Winston-Salem, NC, I've tried my best to respect my fellow DCA directors request to not chime in on these topics. However, I've felt a need to give you MY PERSPECTIVE on DCA Championships in 2006. (This will be my ONLY POST on this topic)

First of all, with all due respect Jeff, alot of your "reporting of facts" with regards to Winston-Salem, astonishes me. I've attended numerous DCA shows over the past 5 years, and quite frankly, W-S was probably the BEST venue outside of Championships...EVEN with RAIN! My corps has made numerous 10-11 hour trips up north only to be disappointed with having NO HOUSING and VERY POOR rehearsal sites! Maybe it is due to our organization being "the new kids on the block" and I'll accept that. Having said that, I nor my corps, staff and members have ever gone public to discuss the "negatives" of a particualr show. We choose not to focus on that. It serves no purpose in this forum. I have, however, expressed those concerns with both the show sponsors and DCA. Not to bash them, but to give them input so that we can ensure DCA corps are being taken care of in the future.

Hypemasters saying that Winston-Salem would have 10K for the Preview of Champions...well I never heard that, but considering the monsoon and also the fact that this was the FIRST DCA EVENT ever held in NC, I believe the 3500 tickets that WERE sold was pretty impressive! And that was for only 7 corps! Need I remind you that Kingston had 11 corps and is a regional show for DCA? I would be surprised if they had that many in the stands. Don't get me wrong, we've performed in Kingston now for 2 years and we really enjoy the area, the stadium, the town and the crowd! I believe that giving Winston-Salem a magical number to "hit" is a mistake. I personally do not know of any shows outside of Championships that "hit" that magical number. (The exception, Hershey, and that WAS a DCI/DCA Show)

OK. Let's assume Winston-Salem had 3500 in the stands for only 7 corps...would it be a safe assumption that Winston-Salem could draw at least 8000-10000 in the stands for a DCA World Championships show with 27 corps PLUS Alumni? you won't know until you try! Interesting fact...Carolina Crown's Night Beat Show in Charlotte, NC ( only 1-1/2 hours south) attracts around 10,000 at Memorial Stadium. Do you not really think that Winston-Salem could draw close to that for a DCA World Championships? I think so.

As far as the concessions, ATM's, etc...

I KNOW GROVES Stadium REALLY well...it is evident that you've never been to a Wake Forest football game! They sell more than hotdogs! They will pull-up the Pizza Hut mobile Kitchen, Bojangle's Chicken Mobile Kitchen, BBQ, etc...and yes, even healthy salads and such for the "health conscious". I'm sorry that it was not planned for this event. I'm sure that should they land 2006 World Championships, food choices will DEFINITELY not be a problem. (Neither will ATM's)

Again, let me be clear. I too believe that discussion is a good thing and that everyone is entitled to their opinions. However, DO NOT lose sight of the forest beyond the trees! Growth is a good thing. More fans, better venues, more money for the corps!

If we keep DCA limited to a smaller section of the US, corps will never gain the fan base as those enjoyed by DCI corps. Do you not think that there are NUMEROUS fans in the NY, NJ & PA area that really love the Blue Devils or Santa Clara Vanguard? How about the 1,000's of fans in CA. who are really loyal to the Cadets, The Crossmen or even Madison? This is why DCI has been so successful. They moved their product around and developed a following. They are a marketing machine and for that, you cannot argue. Do they move their championships around? Sure they do! Are they a sell-out? You betcha!

I agree with Lee, we have the best product and one that is primed for serious growth. If we do not take some chances, the interest in our product will be limited. Cities like Winston-Salem have joined in this excitement and are interested in helping DCA with this growth. They have the facilties, the have the sponsors, they have the investment dollars, they have the stadium and more importantly...they have the passion!

Would I support any other city? Absolutely! Carolina Gold will go WHEREVER Championships are held! However, I firmly believe that we should not cut ourselves short on opportunities such as these. The growth of DCA is more important than having individuals argue over where it should be held. The Member Corps and DCA will decide for 2006 and beyond as they always have.

Jeff, my comments were not meant to offend you or any others who have been so "vocal" on this issue. Your passion for this activity is shared by all and appreciated by many.

Finally, I do want to thank ALL of the DCA corps who have kept this circuit growing over the years. You guys are why corps outside of the NE are "popping-up". Your willingness to support all of the corps whether from the Midwest, the South or the West, have been instrumental in turning DCA into what it is today!

Respectfully,

Jason Malugen, Corps Director

Carolina Gold

Edited August 14, 2005 by GoldDirector

[Jeff Ream]

Couple of questions and I'll get down to participating in the poll. Why is it that Allentown, PA is not under consideration for DCA Championships in 2006? Did something (uh.......bad) happen with Allentown before my wife and I became DCA converts in 2002?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

they didn't submit a bid, so, no options for Allentown to be considered.