jware Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 Thanks for the replies everyone. It is next year. I want to contact Archie, I bleiove thier colors are black and red if memorey serves me correctly which is the same color as our fire engines. Brilliant!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-horns Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 I don't understand why you guys need to take a bus everywhere? Liability in the event of an accident??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlbionNY Drum Line Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 Liability in the event of an accident??? My corps relies mainly on people providing their own transportation to most things except very far away show. Has been like that since I started marching in 2005. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Matczak Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 My corps relies mainly on people providing their own transportation to most things except very far away show.Has been like that since I started marching in 2005. we've done it that way since I started out in 1973,.................besides that, having less than 35 people in the corps, you don't need a coach at all.....................and, if you are doing local gigs to try and recruit more people, you might not even nead a ride........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackstar Posted June 12, 2008 Author Share Posted June 12, 2008 I made an offer to several corps, all within a 2 hour drive. Was told they needed 3g's because of gas.... thats alot of gas for a 2 hour trip. And it's almost half our parade budget. I guess its back to the community stepper groups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slate belt corpsman Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 I made an offer to several corps, all within a 2 hour drive. Was told they needed 3g's because of gas.... thats alot of gas for a 2 hour trip. And it's almost half our parade budget. I guess its back to the community stepper groups. If you're gonna pay that kind of money, gee let me know. Lot's of $$$ for a 2 hour parade. Maybe if you're in Allentown and going to Erie then the bucks are worth it, that is if the corps is also! However, I've been involved with parade committee that would pay twice as much as that for mummers, and what do they get?????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Windish Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 Blackstar, Unless there are chartered buses involved, and it's a performing group (or personality) that folks along the route would travel their OWN "expensive distance" to see, 3g's is too much. Then again, this is NOT a good year to attract non-local performers. Sounds like you do not have a group of local business's willing to kick-in $500 minimum to co-sponsor a musical group with all of the publicity that can be gleaned from that. My suggestion, contact a few LOCAL (less that 25 miles) American Legion bands, Hobo bands, baton corps, fife & drum groups, junior high bands, bagpipers, etc. ALL will probably take notice at $600-700, and the folks along the route really won't care. Blackstar, thanks for trying to make this work. Sorry if this hurts anyone's feelings, and again, the opinion I express here is strictly my own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorpsBuff Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 I made an offer to several corps, all within a 2 hour drive. Was told they needed 3g's because of gas.... thats alot of gas for a 2 hour trip. And it's almost half our parade budget. I guess its back to the community stepper groups. I'm in delaware... I'll march for some money! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-horns Posted June 13, 2008 Share Posted June 13, 2008 Blackstar,Unless there are chartered buses involved, and it's a performing group (or personality) that folks along the route would travel their OWN "expensive distance" to see, 3g's is too much. Then again, this is NOT a good year to attract non-local performers. Sounds like you do not have a group of local business's willing to kick-in $500 minimum to co-sponsor a musical group with all of the publicity that can be gleaned from that. My suggestion, contact a few LOCAL (less that 25 miles) American Legion bands, Hobo bands, baton corps, fife & drum groups, junior high bands, bagpipers, etc. ALL will probably take notice at $600-700, and the folks along the route really won't care. Blackstar, thanks for trying to make this work. Sorry if this hurts anyone's feelings, and again, the opinion I express here is strictly my own. Fred makes some very good points. The time of year (June or September) makes this a problem for a number of groups. For competitive corps June is the beginning of the season and in Sept. everyone just wants to stay home. Alumni corps are another matter, but even with them June is tough because there are many parades going on and the corps are in demand. High school bands are done in June and may not be interested in a September date because of football commitments and band competitions. Middle school or junior high bands might be a good idea, but they might not be available in June or September because of the school calendar. And some middle schools don't even have a marching band. That leaves you with fife & drum corps (some of which are quite good!), pipe bands, etc. Here's a couple of suggestions: 1 - As Fred mentioned, start soliciting local businesses for sponsorship money. Get some prices from the groups you want to hire and send a letter to every business - retail, wholesale, manufacturers, etc. - in the local area asking for sponsorship money. Be specific. Don't ask for the total amount of, say $3000. Ask for $2500 and pick up the rest elsewhere. For each fully sponsored musical unit, have a large sign made up that says "XYZ Drum & Bugle Corps, Anytown, USA - Sponsored by ACME INDUSTRIES". Get in touch with the local Boy Scouts (or use your Fire Explorers) to arrange for kids to carry the sign in front of the musical group. When giving parade prizes, exclude any group that is being paid more than a set amount, like $500, from the competition. In all your parade publicity (you do plan to have publicity), be sure to mention that "XYZ Drum & Bugle Corps" is coming to the parade thanks to the generosity of Acme Industries. 2 - Another approach is to contact all the fire companies that will be invited to the parade and ask them to consider bringing their own musical group. Some will be interested and you will benefit from not having to pay those groups. If you do this, be sure that when the parade prizes are announced, that the department is mentioned along with the name of the group. There's a big St. Pat's Day parade here in Hartford, and many of the local towns have parade committees. The parade committees sponsor a float and some hire bands & drum corps. It works to everyone's advantage and for our local middle school marching band it is the biggest event of the year. Regardless of what you come up with, you have time to get things going. I don't know how many times I've heard about committees planning for a big centennial celebration and trying to organize a huge parade in three months. It just doesn't happen. Good luck with the planning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted June 13, 2008 Share Posted June 13, 2008 (edited) 1 - As Fred mentioned, start soliciting local businesses for sponsorship money. Get some prices from the groups you want to hire and send a letter to every business - retail, wholesale, manufacturers, etc. - in the local area asking for sponsorship money. Be specific. Don't ask for the total amount of, say $3000. Ask for $2500 and pick up the rest elsewhere. For each fully sponsored musical unit, have a large sign made up that says "XYZ Drum & Bugle Corps, Anytown, USA - Sponsored by ACME INDUSTRIES". Get in touch with the local Boy Scouts (or use your Fire Explorers) to arrange for kids to carry the sign in front of the musical group. When giving parade prizes, exclude any group that is being paid more than a set amount, like $500, from the competition. In all your parade publicity (you do plan to have publicity), be sure to mention that "XYZ Drum & Bugle Corps" is coming to the parade thanks to the generosity of Acme Industries. Gettysburg, PA Memorial Day parade has banners like this in front of the groups. Also a great way to let everyone know what "band" this is. Also Gettysburg has multiple sponsors for the group to spread the $$$$ pain around. Makes the banner a little crowded but works for them. Have overhead ".... sponsored by...." announced at the reviewing stand at places I can't remember.... Edited June 13, 2008 by JimF-3rdBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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