2012 Scout House Summer Field Show Schedule

After a short break following an exceptionally busy spring season, Preston Scout House Alumni Band, of Cambridge, will perform its first full field show of the season in Hornell, New York on July 28, the first of seven out of town weekend performances in a row. Scout House returns home to Cambridge on Saturday, September 8 to help Preston Royal Canadian Legion Branch 126 celebrate Warriors’ Day with a short parade and band tattoo.

Scout House will be appearing in Hornell for the first time since the mid 1960s. The Band was a popular exhibition performer at contests featuring the top senior corps of the day in 1960, 1961, 1962 and 1966. The return to Hornell was scheduled to take place in 2011, but the Drum Corps Associates (DCA) contest was postponed because the local stadium was unavailable last year.

On August 4, Scout House will march in the town of Durham’s annual summer homecoming festival and perform in concert following the parade. Former members of the Durham Girls drum and bugle corps, national champions in the 1950s, borrowed equipment from Scout House earlier this year in order to put together a performing group for the parade.

After a few years absence, Scout House will return to the Fergus Scottish Festival and Highland Games to perform in a tattoo on Friday, August 10. The tattoo, beginning at 8 pm, is a traditional outdoor spectacle of music, light and action starting at dusk. The program will also feature the 48th Highlanders of Canada Pipes and Drums, and the American Originals Fife and Drum Corps. There will be a preview of the festival’s weekend tribute to the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. The evening will wind up in spectacular fashion with a fireworks finale staged by internationally acclaimed David Whysall International Fireworks.

On Thursday, August 16, Scout House will perform in downtown Dundas during the Cactus Festival Parade, one of the most popular annual events in southern Ontario. Spectators line the entire parade route three or four deep to applaud the parade participants who march uphill with the setting sun in their eyes for almost the entire route. The Cactus Festival was initiated to recognize the role of a local greenhouse company in supplying flower shops across North America with cactus plants of all sizes and varieties. The local business no longer exists, but the festival continues.

One of the major events of the summer for Scout House takes place two days later, on Saturday, August 18 in Waterloo: the 3rd annual Scout House Invitational Tattoo. The first tattoo took place despite a steady day-long downpour. Last year’s event was cancelled just minutes after the scheduled starting time when a major storm blew across southern Ontario. Advance tickets for this year’s show, priced at $12 with children 12 and under free, are available through The Centre in the Square box office at telephone (519) 578-1570 or 1 (800) 265-8977.

In addition to Scout House Alumni Band, the tattoo will feature the Ceremonial Band of the Waterloo Regional Police Service, Les Diplomates du Quebec Alumni Drum and Bugle Corps, the Philippine Heritage Band, Mighty St. Joe’s Alumni Drum and Bugle Corps,?the United Alumni Senior Drum and Bugle Corps,?the Optimists Alumni Drum and Bugle Corps,?the Burlington Teen Tour Band,?the Toronto Signals and?Panwaves Steel Drum Orchestra. More information is available at the event website: www.scouthousetattoo.com

Scout House will be one of the Legends of Drum Corps appearing on the field in Oshawa a week later on Saturday August 25 in a show hosted annually by the Optimists Alumni Drum and Bugle Corps.

The Band’s summer field show season winds up at Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland on Sunday September 2 during the Alumni Spectacular field concert. Scout House will be making its tenth appearance in the alumni show, one of many events held during the Drum Corps Associates (DCA) championship tournament weekend.

Although Scout House began to prepare for the outdoor performance season with an exceptionally early spring start on field show drill practices, the Band has yet to perform its full routine on the field. Early field practices included two indoor dome sessions, to prepare for the Strawberry Festival in Buckhannon, West Virginia in mid-May.

In Buckhannon, the Band presented only the first half of the field show, up to the formation for the standstill concert of Sing, Sing, Sing. At the Welland Rose Festival in June, there wasn’t enough room to perform the full field drill. The evening show was held in a baseball stadium, with the performing area configured on a diagonal so close to the stands the front sideline was only about 15 yards long between the first and third base lines.

Scout House affirmed its commitment to the local community twice in July, marching in the July 1 Canada Day parade between spectators lining both sides of the street from the edge of the parking lot at the beginning of the parade all the way through the downtown business district to Riverside Park, a mile down the main street. On Saturday, July 14, the Band performed on the street for an hour in Preston’s downtown Central Park, during the annual Preston Downtown Days Sidewalk Sale and Funfest.

Since its first stage show in 1999, Scout House Alumni Band has performed in more than 360 parades, field shows and concerts in communities across Ontario and Quebec, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Florida and West Virginia.

For more information about Preston 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/