Labor Day Weekend – Back in the Day

Labor Day weekend had me feeling nostalgic. As a drum corps kid growing up in upstate New York, it meant something big; really big! The Drum Corps Associates (DCA) Championships. The senior corps! The big guys. Labor Day weekend meant DCA.

In the late 60’s and early 70’s, that championship was very often held just up the road from little Watkins Glen in the “big city” of Rochester, NY. (Eight times between 1968 – 1976.) We were raw small town drum corps kids just becoming “drum corps aware”. The DCA Championship was big time stuff! One year my parents let me ride a bus up with an older high school buddy and we stayed at my cousin’s house, practically next door to Aquinas Stadium. Other years, we’d get an older friend to drive and pile into the car. (Bless you, Dennis.)

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