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Why not make the deal? Obviously there were no other sponsors willing to step up to the "presenting" sponsor level for this show, otherwise a deal would have already been inked. DCI gets money for the sponsorship deal and these two counties get exposure to thousands of tourists who are spending money throughout the two county area while attending the DCI event. Through the sponsorship there's also a possibility that non-drum corps fans may end up at the show as a result of hearing/seeing the partnership advertised.

I was going to say something similar in my last post as well. This is a pretty late show and I can remember stands quite frequently clearing out the later the night went on at some shows.

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One look at NASCAR and all of their "exclusivity" deals and how it has essentially chased many big name sponsors away from the sport would seriously raise my concerns about going that route with DCI. Perfect example was how Verizon was ushered out of the sport when Sprint became the title sponsor due to exclusivity clauses. Sure, Verizon could still sponsor the Penske race team, but their name couldn't appear on the car. What's the value in that? If Pioneer is sponsored by Mapex percussion, why in the world would we want to put any other sponsor on our website or our equipment? What would be the point of Mapex wanting to sponsor us if we have to promote a competitor's product?

While there are a lot of opportunities to raise money via scholarships and sponsorship, you can't always rely on those sources coming through. I've watched one too many kids drop out at the last minute because they weren't able to meet the financial commitments necessary to march because a sponsor didn't come through. You have to develop a plan on your own to raise the money, and getting a part time job is one way to do it. When applying for jobs, be up front about your plans to march drum corps. As an HR person myself that hires dozens of kids your age each year, I look for kids who are involved in extra-curricular activites and have some goals/drive in life. Kids who display these characteristics are generally much better employees than those who list their hobbies as "playing video games". When it comes time for an interview, be clear about your desires. A good HR person will recognize that you're a good hire and will hopefully be willing to work with you and your schedule. Once you have a job, decide how much you you need to save from each paycheck. Assuming that you can only work 38 weeks in a year because the other 14 will be spent on tour/rehearsing, come up with a dollar amount you need to save per week to meet your goal ($50/wk = $1900). If your employer offers direct deposit, automatically have a certain amount deposted into a savings account that you won't touch until it comes time to pay your dues. You don't have to work a ton of hours to be able to reach your goal. In fact, state and federal laws will limit the number of hours that you can work during the school year quite a bit. Regardless of that, if you can work two nights during the week and a day on the weekend, you will be able to do it and reach your goal. Also, looking past drum corps a bit, having a positive work experience as a teenager can help you in the long run. Not to say that it affects things greatly, but it doesn't hurt when it comes time to look for a job after drum corps/college. Lastly, look at scholarships and sponsorships as a way to supplement what you're raising... but I'm reluctant to tell you to put all of your eggs into that basket. With economic times being rough, some local businesses and residents are not able to contribute what they used to. We discovered that in recent weeks trying to get items donated for Pioneer's silent auction. A lot of places said that they would love to help, but simply couldn't because of the rough going that they're having. A lot of people are hurting now days and may not be willing to spend money on what they see as a luxury activity. Good luck! You seem like you have a good head on your shoulders and should do well in life!

Thanks to everyone for their well wishes. We had a great weekend filled with many highlights and memories. Check out this great article that is in today's Milwaukee JournalSentinel: http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/125321973.html

It's officially reunion weekend! We're busy putting the final touches on things in preparation for the 11:00am "kick off". Here's Saturday's schedule: 11:00am - Meet & Greet & Silent Auction Begins 1:00pm - Picnic Lunch (Bring your own or we have Concessions Available!) 3:00pm - Procession of the Decades (A parade of all the alumni present!) 3:30pm - 2011 Pioneer Corps Performs w/special performances by our I&E contestants 5:30pm - Spaghetti Dinner prepared by our Outstanding Cook Staff (Small donation appreciated!) 7:00pm - Social & Videos w/Concessions Available 10:00pm - Silent Auction Winners Announced 11:00pm - Bonfire & 50th Anniversary Ceremony Silent Auction Details Don't miss your chance to win a Gas Grill, Outdoor Fire Pit, Tom Tom GPS, Pizza Baking Kit, Custom Pioneer Jackets, Custom Guitar, and many more great items! If you're passing through Milwaukee on your way to the show out in Madison, feel free to stop on by and say hello! Several people are already planning on making the stop! We've already had several people pop in during the set up, so anyone is welcome to stop by! The event is free to attend, but the proceeds from the concessions, auction, and souvenirs will go towards the corps and future alumni activities!

Check it out... We're even getting a little media coverage for this weekend's reunion! Pioneer Drilling in Drum Corps' Spring Training

Only a couple days until the Reunion & Celebration! The tent went up today and the set up continues tomorrow! If you're in the area, come on by and join us! What Gathering of the Clans – Pioneer 50th Anniversary Reunion & Celebration When July 9th, 2011 from 11:00am to Midnight July 10th, 2011 from 8:00am to 3:00pm Where Pioneer Musical Youth Center (Pioneerland) 2000 E. Birchwood Ave. Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53110 More Information & RSVP Form www.pioneer-alumni.org

Not yet... I believe there's still almost an hour of show left.

Greetings again! Just wanted to bump this topic back to the top again as we're a little more than a week away from our celebration. Keep in mind, this event is FREE and open to anyone who wants to join us in celebration of the corps' 50th anniversary. This is a great opportunity to check out the 2011 Pioneer corps up close on Saturday afternoon. In addition, there will be a silent auction on Saturday to benefit the corps as well as food & concessions available all afternoon! What Gathering of the Clans – Pioneer 50th Anniversary Reunion & Celebration When July 9th, 2011 from 11:00am to Midnight July 10th, 2011 from 8:00am to 3:00pm Where Pioneer Musical Youth Center (Pioneerland) 2000 E. Birchwood Ave. Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53110 More Information & RSVP Form www.pioneer-alumni.org

I think it will be very interesting to see how things shake out at prelims. If you apply the typical 15 to 20 point curve that happens when you go between World Class sheets and Open Class sheets, Pioneer would be at least a couple points ahead of all of the Open Class corps at this point in the season. More importantly, I think it's safe to say that the corps is looking at the corps in front of them and not the corps behind them. Nothing we can do about the corps behind us. We won't see them until prelims and won't be scored on the same sheets until that day. Instead, focus on the corps that are a couple points ahead of us and see what we can do!

You are probably correct on that. There are a couple of 16 year olds in the horn line, but the majority are older. Overall it's a much more mature group which lends itself to cleaning and improving at a more rapid pace.

Mikey, You are quite wrong on this... Right before the corps left to go on tour, Roman crunched the numbers and this is actually the oldest corps that Pioneer has put out on the field (at least in the recent history). The average age is well over 19 years old.

Actually Mikey, after the corps switched to the white jackets last season, there were a lot of people that came back and basically said that the hat finally made sense. They didn't say that they "liked" them, but they also didn't say that they hated them either. I think there's been a certain level of acceptance. From a competitive standpoint, there's still some issue getting them to stay in place on the kid's heads. That's my biggest complaint about them. I actually don't mind them when they're pulled down low and the person wearing them looks like they're about to hurt you! But by the end of the show when half the members look like Howdy Doody because the hats slipping off the back of their head, that gets a little annoying!

You are correct on adjustments being made. Pioneer is appearing in less shows this season and tried to get a schedule that will allow for more rehearsal time and more down time. There are a couple different stretches where we have shows multiple days in a row, but there's also many stretches where we have several rehearsal days in a row. All said and done, we hope that the schedule is a better situation for everyone involved.

Looks like someone (me) forgot how to do math the last time the board page was updated!

The sheets for World Class and Open Class are completely different. I don't know if it's still the exactly the same, but back in the day there was about a 20 point difference between the sheets. For example, Blue Devil B's 73 would translate to approximately a 53 on World Class sheets/scoring.

Pioneer has previously held camps in several states including Texas, Florida, Missouri, Michigan, and Indiana. The out of state camps yielded mixed results on the surface, and very few actual marching members for the season itself. They were not continued for the 2010-11 season as a result. I completely agree that there are areas that are ripe for recruiting. One of the newer things that we're doing is analyzing our web stats/analytics and targeting regions where we get the most hits from. Some of these areas are in the hot bed of the marching activity (Illinois/Indiana) while others are a bit more surprising. In any event, we're working to get a foot further in the door in these areas to improve our chances of recruiting members from that region. As far as the current season's recruiting, we received over 300 applications this year via the website. That's in addition to hundreds of other names that were obtained at recruiting trips, band shows, and WGI. In addition, we also received access to several corps cut lists in late spring. Corps staff contacted all of these prospective members via phone and/or email. We actually formed a recruiting "SWAT" team which met one night a week and called as many potential recruits as possible. Follow up lists were also distributed to alumni who contacted some of these prospective members as well. There was a lot of interest, but not a lot of follow through by many of these prospective members. There's a ton of reasons why they didn't join the corps. I'm sure some of those have been addressed in this thread, while others are beyond our control (money, economy, parents, etc...). Our souvenir trailer does travel to shows where it makes logical and financial sense. I think we'd all like to see it at more shows, but we simply don't move the amount of product to make it financially worthwhile to take it to every show at this point in time. Keep in mind, souvenir sales and placement usually go hand in hand.

Milwaukee Public Schools are in a state of disrepair with the art programs being hardest hit. There are very few music programs left within the MPS school system, and quite honestly the kids that are in band probably wouldn't be interested in the time commitment that drum corps require. We actively recruit throughout Southeastern Wisconsin and the state as a whole. Some schools are quite receptive while others are a little less interested. As a whole, the marching band activity in Wisconsin isn't quite as strong as the surrounding states. I graduated from a suburban Milwaukee school and outside of homecoming and the Christmas parade, we didn't march... period. Many of the schools around where I live are the same. Those that do march don't necessarily have strong programs. The few that do have strong programs often discourage their members from marching drum corps as they feel it would detract from their marching band's success. That said, we have gotten members from some of those schools in the past and I would assume that we will in the future.

Lighten up? Apparently the smiley face wasn't lighthearted enough for you? I was actually defending Mikey in my original post. My posts really had nothing to do with people criticizing or questioning Pioneer. Every time Mikey pops into the thread, for a variety of reasons people decided to launch personal attacks against him. Those personal attacks got the last thread shut down and I was concerned that they would get this thread shut down as well. Simple as that. If the thread gets shut down, then there's nowhere to voice your questions/concerns. Yes, we can start another one, but the easier answer would be to keep this one open. I WANT the thread to stay open for the same reasons that you are pointing out.

Heard you the first time I was more concerned that individuals would begin attacking other certain individuals over things that would extend past the realm of Pioneer. That off topic banter would then get the thread closed. Everything Pioneer is fair game! Bring it on!

Guys... I'm not a moderator here, but I would like to ask everyone to remain on topic and refrain from anything that might resemble a personal attack or so forth. I see this thread quickly qoing the way of the previous "Pioneer - What Now?" thread... And I for one would like to see this thread stay open and unlocked! Thanks!

Very cool pics & story.