An Allentown response

[Guest Fred Windish]

Now that the dust has settled, please accept this unofficial response

from an individual who was proud to be involved in the most recent DCI

Eastern Classic.

For several years now, the local organizing committee chairman has

been Bob Bennett. Bob would probably weigh-in here as he has so many

times in the past.

(You may email him at Reb1039@aol.com, he will absolutely send you an

accurate reply). Today, however, Bob is in Orlando.

As a longtime reader of RAMD and Drum Corps Planet, I'd like to offer

my comments concerning the return to Allentown. First know the

opinions of anyone responding to these forums are noted and valued.

This local organizing committee's greatest priority is, and always has

been the fans. Kindly accept my reactions to several topics that have

appeared on these pages.

First of all, the crowd size. The announced crowd (10,600) was a

hastily made estimate. I believe it was a low number. This actually

was a surprising success. My experience with the stadium (and its now

14,900 concert side seats), careful observation of the several hundred

who occupied grassy areas, other hundreds who were standing behind the

midwall, and typical comp ticket numbers for an event of this size,

I'd like to offer a crowd estimate for Saturday evening between 13,000

- 14,000 persons.

Secondly, the renovations to date. The Allentown School District and

its "Restore the Glory" committee had no plans to retain the upper

level. It was to be removed and replaced with a grassy terrace. A

major effort was made over the past two years by DCI and its

representatives to convince local decisionmakers to continue the

seats. Sadly, in my opinion, the upper level was only retained due

to DCI's pressure and subsequent funding.

Unfortunately, the Allentown School District only undertook the

"somewhat superficial" renovations just 3 weeks ago. DCI thought they

were paying for a more complete effort than was in evidence last

weekend. The seating surfaces were not touched as expected. Effort

was only made to close openings with added fencing to satisfy building

codes that require spaces too small to pass a four inch sphere.

Bob Bennett has already begun to address the upper level. On Sunday

morning, official requests were made for a detailed construction/cost

accounting. Additionally, Bob requested the fencing applied behind

the top X,Y,Z's top row (Row 19) be removed and re-applied to the

outside of the permanent railing to create more space. The

unanticipated rows 1 and 2 obstructed view matter was adequated

handled by DCI to the best of its ability and I fully expect Bob to

inquire about a change to a clear plexiglass barrier.

The restroom renovations were not completed on time as promised. They

were working on that as late as Thursday. The local contractor

provided the port-a-johns at DCI's insistance. No one expects this to

be a problem next summer.

The was also a problem exiting the new stadium via the track area.

The architect's design was poor, forcing everyone to funnel through a

four foot wide area. This is not likely to be solved soon.

The sound volume of the horns was lessened due to the new turf/track

design.

The front sideline was pushed back about 10 yards. We considered a

sideline temporarily more forward (using cones, etc.) to retain that

Allentown "in your face" atmosphere, but local stadium officials are

still afraid to deviate from original plans for fear of some sort of

damage. It's like buying a new car and not driving it in the rain for

the first year, I suppose.

The corps "warm-up noise" outside was addressed that night by the

local committee on several occasions, but it continued among different

corps. This is probably something that only the DCI hierarchy can

solve through rules and penalties. It will surely be discussed this

winter.

All things considered, this was a spectacular return to Allentown.

Many, many fans expressed their pleasure at being back. It just felt

good! No, the stadium renovations are not complete. We expect the

improvements to continue as funding is identified.

I can assure everyone, this is an outstanding local organizing

committee, perhaps the activity's best functioning group. Your

comments are most important to this effort. Please continue.

Fred Windish

Bethlehem, PA

[CabsHG]

Fred,

Thank you for your comments. It seems that DCI East is one of the best run shows of the year with a great committee of individuals who truly care about the experience. I'm glad to hear that Bob is working hard on some of the problems that came up last weekend, especially regarding the upper deck. I had that fence taking up half my seat on Friday night! Even with the minor inconveniences, it was still a great weekend of drum corps and no stadium can beat J. Birney Crum's refreshment in either assortment or value.

Thanks for your hard work!

[Jeffsjetta]

can ya level that hill out a lil bit? :P

[Sean1]

ahhhhh the hill

[FrankBeMe]

I love that hill!!!!

ok I don't...talk about a trudge!...maybe they can raise the field to hill level??

[Bushsnare]

I hate to complain but I gotta get it off my chest. We bought "premium" (note the quotation marks) for $25 a night. I dont really call the 25 yard line "premium". I think just because it was in the upper level, they called it premium. It seems that the seat numbers (at least in the upper level) should determine the quality of the seats, not just the fact that the section is near the 50 on paper. We were also some of the lucky patrons who got 2nd row seats on the second night where the fence was obstructing our view. I do appreciate DCI's efforts to make us happy. Heck, I got a free video :) And yes the pit warm-ups during balads were not cool. I dont think I'll be buying tickets for Allentown for a while :( cause hopefull I'll be marching there :)