Fred Windish Posted August 6, 2023 Share Posted August 6, 2023 (edited) Random thoughts from a Flo viewer of the latest Allentown event from someone with certain knowledge. DCI.org officially announced slightly over 10,000 paid in the Saturday attendance. I saw an estimated number of upwards to 12,000 sitting, standing in, behind the upper dividing wall, off to the sides on the grassy places, and down on the track. At an event of that magnitude, and the format for this year, so many additional non-paid in the facility is easily possible. I can explain this if requested. To my eyes, this could have been the biggest attendance in 20 years, as stated by DCI. The Friday complete crowd looked to be roughly 9,500. What’s not to like about those numbers in an economy like this? Most issues of handicapped accommodations and movement can be solved by parking above the stadium, being dropped off near the rear of the front grandstand, and entering one of those two Gates. DCI temporarily establishes and monitors about 100 handicapped parking spaces up there. Entering the venue this way can mean having to deal with no stair steps, whatsoever. DCI maintains and monitors a large number of wheelchair accessible seating options, with separate benches for assistants, located between the grandstand levels. Best seats in the house, actually. Of course, you need to know about all this well in advance of your visit. As for accommodating all corps on a single day, rather than using Friday and Saturday, this is exactly what took place for years in DCI’s first half history in Allentown. In the 80s decade, DCI featured 27 corps per day in competition. One year, 57 corps (in total) played Allentown in one weekend! Allentown has space to park, and remain in place, about 150 buses, trucks, and vans owned by competing corps. Besides all of the above info . . . . this year’s Allentown Weekend was absolutely incredible. Easily one of the best of 46 years. I’ve attended/watched every one of these! Unbelievable talent on display! What were your impressions, positive and negative? I would particularly like to hear about the new location for the DCI Marketplace (a decision DCI was forced to make). I didn’t attend in any manner this year, so can’t evaluate. Thanks. Edited August 6, 2023 by Fred Windish Typing errors, etc. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barneveld Posted August 6, 2023 Share Posted August 6, 2023 9 minutes ago, Fred Windish said: Random thoughts from a Flo viewer of the latest Allentown event from someone with certain knowledge. DCI.org officially announced slightly over 10,000 paid in the Saturday attendance. I saw an estimated number of upwards to 12,000 siting, standing in, behind the upper dividing wall, off to the sides on the grassy places, and down on the track. At an event of that magnitude and the format for this year, so many additional non-paid in the facility are easily possible. I can explain that if requested. To my eyes, this could have been was biggest attendance in 20 years as stated by DCI. The Friday complete crowd looked to be roughly 9,500. What’s not to like about those numbers in an economy like this? Most issues of handicapped accommodations and movement can be solved by parking above, being dropped off near the rear of the front grandstand, and entering one of those two Gates. DCI temporarily establishes and monitors about 100 handicapped parking spaces up there. Entering the venue this way can mean having to deal with no stair steps, whatsoever. DCI maintains and monitors a large number of wheelchair accessible seating with benches for assistants between the grandstand levels. Best seats in the house, actually. Of course, you need to know about all this well in advance of your visit. As for accommodating all corps on a single day, rather than using Friday and Saturday, this is exactly what took place for years in DCI’s first half history in Allentown. In the 80s decade, DCI featured 27 corps per day in competition. One year, 57 corps all together played Allentown in one weekend! Allentown has space to park, and remain in place, about 150 buses, trucks, and vans owned by competing corps. Besides all of the above info . . . . this year’s Allentown Weekend was absolutely incredible. Easily one of the best of 46 years. I’ve attended/watched every one of these! Unbelievable talent on display! What were your impressions, positive and negative? I would particularly like to hear about the new location for the DCI Marketplace (a decision DCI was forced to make). I didn’t attend in any manner this year, so can’t evaluate. Thanks. Quote Allentown has space to park, and remain in place, about 150 buses, trucks, and vans owned by competing corps. That's roughly 10 - 12 drum corps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Windish Posted August 6, 2023 Author Share Posted August 6, 2023 (edited) You could well be right, Barneveld. I do know, during those 27 corps per day years, the road running through the Park wasn’t even used for corps vehicle parking! Now, it is, so . . . Edited August 6, 2023 by Fred Windish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leed17 Posted August 6, 2023 Share Posted August 6, 2023 The marketplace was great…lots of room, food trucks were a nice touch, and pretty easy to navigate. Yes, it is nice having it in the stadium, but coming from someone who only visits the marketplace BEFORE the show and then stays planted in the stands for every corps performance, it was great. For those that liked to visit during intermission or during their not so favorite corps performance it was probably an inconvenience…but for me, I give it an A. 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Windish Posted August 6, 2023 Author Share Posted August 6, 2023 (edited) Thanks, leed17 ! Thinking about those food trucks, someone said there were 8, the number of food and drink options had to be much greater, and probably taste better, too! Also, most already know, hundreds of fans remain outside the stadium watching warm-ups all through the event. Now, they’ve got food and drink right there with them. No admission tickets required! Edited August 6, 2023 by Fred Windish 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted August 6, 2023 Share Posted August 6, 2023 The new marketplace was great unless you have the handicap accessiblity issues mentioned. I was fine. And I caught a Flo camera operator snoozing between corps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Windish Posted August 6, 2023 Author Share Posted August 6, 2023 Jeff, as the new Mayor of Pineville, I think some of your own citizenry spent money over there, too! 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted August 8, 2023 Share Posted August 8, 2023 On 8/6/2023 at 7:42 PM, Fred Windish said: Jeff, as the new Mayor of Pineville, I think some of your own citizenry spent money over there, too! 🙂 well...i'm not the mayor. there's will never be another mayor. there's will be chairpersons and organizers, but no more mayors. Ron beyer the original mayor hs passed away. his replacement, his brother Tom then passed away not to long after. and bill Toomey stepped in, and he also passed away. Hershman decreed no more mayors, he's not ready to die, and none of us want the title Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim K Posted August 8, 2023 Share Posted August 8, 2023 I do love Allentown and would not like to see it moved. As I said in another thread, I did find the accommodations for older people and disabled people problematic. I do realize there is a handicapped section, but the people I saw struggling most were older folks. I’ve sat in approximately the same seats since 2012: Section H, between row 4 and 15 depending on when I order tickets and the availability, always on an aisle seat. I don’t recall seeing so many people having difficulty with the stairs or having to help people up or break their falls. Allentown does attract an older crowd so it is something to keep in mind. Two great things. First, the incredible volunteers, always the best. Second, there were quite a few school buses field with high school aged kids. Unless they parked in a new spot this year, I saw more young people than in past years and young people at shows is usually a sign of growth. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triple Forte Posted August 8, 2023 Share Posted August 8, 2023 (edited) On 8/6/2023 at 7:05 PM, Fred Windish said: Random thoughts from a Flo viewer of the latest Allentown event from someone with certain knowledge. DCI.org officially announced slightly over 10,000 paid in the Saturday attendance. I saw an estimated number of upwards to 12,000 sitting, standing in, behind the upper dividing wall, off to the sides on the grassy places, and down on the track. At an event of that magnitude, and the format for this year, so many additional non-paid in the facility is easily possible. I can explain this if requested. To my eyes, this could have been the biggest attendance in 20 years, as stated by DCI. The Friday complete crowd looked to be roughly 9,500. What’s not to like about those numbers in an economy like this? Most issues of handicapped accommodations and movement can be solved by parking above the stadium, being dropped off near the rear of the front grandstand, and entering one of those two Gates. DCI temporarily establishes and monitors about 100 handicapped parking spaces up there. Entering the venue this way can mean having to deal with no stair steps, whatsoever. DCI maintains and monitors a large number of wheelchair accessible seating options, with separate benches for assistants, located between the grandstand levels. Best seats in the house, actually. Of course, you need to know about all this well in advance of your visit. As for accommodating all corps on a single day, rather than using Friday and Saturday, this is exactly what took place for years in DCI’s first half history in Allentown. In the 80s decade, DCI featured 27 corps per day in competition. One year, 57 corps (in total) played Allentown in one weekend! Allentown has space to park, and remain in place, about 150 buses, trucks, and vans owned by competing corps. Besides all of the above info . . . . this year’s Allentown Weekend was absolutely incredible. Easily one of the best of 46 years. I’ve attended/watched every one of these! Unbelievable talent on display! What were your impressions, positive and negative? I would particularly like to hear about the new location for the DCI Marketplace (a decision DCI was forced to make). I didn’t attend in any manner this year, so can’t evaluate. Thanks. I have missed the Allentown weekend twice since 1997. I think the idea of the marketplace with food trucks is a good one. if I made one small tweak, it would be , if possible. Spread the food trucks out a bit more. When it was busy, it was kind of a large unorganized pile of folks .Didn’t know who was in a line, or who was just standing and chatting. I heard originally they were thinking of using Linden Street however safety could been an issue. Overall, I had a great time as usual. I love going to Allentown, as do many many others. I would never change the venue. I bet if they were donation boxes and there was an announcement made during the show to say please see if you can give us a few dollars to improve the venue and help keep the Allentown show here at J Birney you would get a good response. 😊 Edited August 8, 2023 by Triple Forte 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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