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Illinois State Fair


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I remember, when I was on staff with the Geneseo Knights, we competed at the Illinois State Fair. Spirit and Suncoast also competed there too. Do they still have that contest? Who still attends the competition to compete?

DE

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I remember, when I was on staff with the Geneseo Knights, we competed at the Illinois State Fair. Spirit and Suncoast also competed there too. Do they still have that contest? Who still attends the competition to compete?

DE

Hey Dennis,

I think it was just Spirit in 85, not Suncoast. We had to compress the drill to fit it on the horse track, and then there was the inspection. Oh, Ford, the inspection. And the pit stuff on the reviewing stand 20 feet up higher than the track? That show was a show from Mars. At least we got to walk around the fairgrounds between prelims and finals. I had never been to the State Fair. Don't miss it, don't even be late.

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Hey Dennis,

I think it was just Spirit in 85, not Suncoast. We had to compress the drill to fit it on the horse track, and then there was the inspection. Oh, Ford, the inspection. And the pit stuff on the reviewing stand 20 feet up higher than the track? That show was a show from Mars. At least we got to walk around the fairgrounds between prelims and finals. I had never been to the State Fair. Don't miss it, don't even be late.

Spirit of Atlanta was there for sure, along with the Florida Wave, Geneseo, Black Knights, and I'm pretty sure there were a couple of more. Wasn't this a VFW show? I know we underwent an inspection prior to our performance. The judges checked our mouthpiece backbores for cleanliness, measured the ponytail length of a percussionists and gave us ticks for untidy uniforms. I believe the only dry cleaning we did that summer was immediately prior to this performance. We spent a fair amount of time getting our shoes properly shined!

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Suncoast was there in 1982:

August 8, 1982 Springfield, IL

prelims

Suncoast Sound 79.3

Knights 77.65

Alliance 70.65

Black Knights 64.4

Pioneers 60.55

Emerald Knights 57.5

Royal Grenadiers55.8

Argonauts 54.9

Illiana Lancers 54.25

Kilts 53.45

Hornets 51.95

Vaqueros 49.55

Ebony Guard 22.5

Troop 63 16.95

Kingsmen 14.4

August 8, 1982 Springfield, IL

finals

Suncoast Sound 76.85

Knights 76.55

Alliance 75.15

Pioneers 64

Black Knights 62.55

Emerald Knights 58.4

Royal Grenadiers 54.65

Argonauts 49.3

Edited by Northern Thunder
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By the way....the scores of the 1985 contest:

August 11, 1985 Springfield, IL

Spirit of Atlanta 85.85

Knights 81.65

Florida Wave 74.45

Black Knights 68.35

Bandettes 56.4

Guardsmen 47.65

Cavalier Cadets 40.45

Kingsmen 37.75

Racine Scouts 24.8

Raiders-IL 19.95

Ebony Guard 19.05

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By the way....the scores of the 1985 contest:

August 11, 1985 Springfield, IL

Spirit of Atlanta 85.85

Knights 81.65

Florida Wave 74.45

Black Knights 68.35

Bandettes 56.4

Guardsmen 47.65

Cavalier Cadets 40.45

Kingsmen 37.75

Racine Scouts 24.8

Raiders-IL 19.95

Ebony Guard 19.05

Like I said. Only on Mars would we have been within 4 points of Spirit a week before Nationals. (One of their tenor players also said they weren't checked for hair, b/c their drumline had more hair than a Supercuts.) My guess is they didn't condense much of their drill like we did. We spent that whole morning boiling the drill down to 1/2 size.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ahhh.... the Illinois State Fair. My tie into drum corps came from here.

In '72 (I was 11) my parents took me and my brother down to Springfield for vacation. We then went on to St. Louis for a Cubs/Cards series. As we were walking around the fair grounds we noticed a bunch of kids in uniforms being taken out of the track stadium on stretchers. It was 100 degrees at 1:00 in the afternoon. Uniforms back then were made of 100% wool and kids were dropping like flys. We went inside to see what was going on and saw our first drum corps perform. In between corps we saw a neighbor from Chicago walking up the stairs. He said hi and said he was on the staff of some corps named The Cavaliers. I just started playing the trumpet in the school band and as soon as he heard this he made the hard sell to my parents.

By the winter of '72/'73 I was practicing with the Cavalier Cadets and the rest, they say, is history.

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Suncoast was there in 1982:

August 8, 1982 Springfield, IL

prelims

Suncoast Sound 79.3

Knights 77.65

Alliance 70.65

Black Knights 64.4

Pioneers 60.55

Emerald Knights 57.5

Royal Grenadiers55.8

Argonauts 54.9

Illiana Lancers 54.25

Kilts 53.45

Hornets 51.95

Vaqueros 49.55

Ebony Guard 22.5

Troop 63 16.95

Kingsmen 14.4

August 8, 1982 Springfield, IL

finals

Suncoast Sound 76.85

Knights 76.55

Alliance 75.15

Pioneers 64

Black Knights 62.55

Emerald Knights 58.4

Royal Grenadiers 54.65

Argonauts 49.3

Proud day indeed, to note that you knocked The Kilts out of what was our last jr. corps finals spot. Proud indeed. But that's drum corps...or was.

Edited by BigDale
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I too was turned on to Drum Corps at the Illinois State Fair. My parents took us there in '71. My dad had marched back in the late '40's and '50's. He knew there was a show going on and took us in. I was in awe and hooked at first sight of the Skokie Imperials and it got better from there. Saw the Cavs clown show, the Belleville Black Knights playing the "Impossible Dream" and wearing chrome domes, my first viewing of Phantom Regiment and the Des Plaines Vanguard. I went to my first camp in my hometown with a corps called the Flying Dutchmen in January of '72, playing a a couple of shows at the the old horse track a few years later, then aged out of Phantom in '82. Spent the years since as a fan and a few on staff. I miss it terribly, but I had to move on. Still a huge fan, keeping up on here and the Fan Network. LONG LIVE DRUM AND BUGLE CORPS!

Edited by Kevlar496
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