Thank you from DCA.

[Fred Windish]

Hi all!

Just returned home from Rochester. I want to begin by giving our organization's thanks to everyone who attended the most important weekend on our calendar. If ever there was a " good news/bad news " kind of DCA Championship, this was it!

Special thanks to John Donovan and his DCP team who did everything they could to enable all of you who were not able to attend a chance to be with us!

Moving to a first year facility is always a difficult proposition and we knew that going in. Also, not having hosted the event in Rochester since 1996, we knew there would be unique problems and confusion to clear, working with many (non-drum corps) persons who were not involved back then, this would be a learning experience for everyone. DCA and our host community have already scheduled two early meetings to assess this weekend and improve. I can assure you, improvement WILL happen, and so many great features about Rochester WILL continue for 2007.

I also want you to know, nearly everyone on the DCA administrative team visits DCP daily. Your postings are sending a message that gets through loud and clear. That must continue. So, let's get started . . .

Here's what I observed. Did you see the same thing?

Rochester is VERY MUCH a drum corps town. I couldn't find a wait staff person who did not have a family member who did not march corps either now or in the past. That sure helps the gate and we just experienced our best attended Finals in several years. Saturday was an ouch, but no one is to blame for that, so let's move on.

The local community support, from an administrative perspective, was THE VERY BEST I have seen over a period of more than forty years. This is a massive undertaking, and both the host Empire Statesmen and the Greater Rochester Area were up to the task. We were treated like the best thing to happen to Rochester since the Brownie camera!

The PAETEC Park people were wonderful. Nothing we asked was too much. Those of you who were there during those horrid Saturday conditions saw the grounds crew entering on several ocassions to keep our sponsor's banners hanging properly. They also went back out on the field to re-line, knowing full well the lines would not last, as the paint requires at least 30 minutes to dry, and on a surface that is not been walked on.

Our host corps, Empire Statesmen, worked hard all year to bring this event to you. What more can be said about Allen Buell?

He's an amazing organizer, and it showed!

And now the rest. There were some rough spots. Quick access to food and drink was difficult. They were overwhelmed. Even their contracted independent vendors were surprised. One of the pizza stations ran out of stock and closed within 2 hours. Drum corps fans must be bigger eaters than soccer fans! They will adjust for this problem in Year Two.

Parking was confusing to everyone. Afterall, we had never been there. There was adequate parking. We just did not know how to find it, but more lots will be opening closer to PAETEC, as properties are acquired and torn down. I saw lots of "yard parking" across the street for just $5 all day. Think Madison, only $5 less.

Communicating our championship policies and procedures to our corps management people and their performers was a real challenge. Most of us were in a brand new home. This isn't Scranton anymore.

Now it's your turn! As a paying customer, what did you observe about Rochester? DCA can learn and improve from your thoughts, both good and bad. We actually DO want to hear about anything that needs to be corrected. Don't hold back, we can take it. I assure you, anything that is presented in a mature, rational manner WILL be addressed by DCA.

Sure hope you have lots of good thing to say, TOO!

:)

[AlbionNY Drum Line]

One complaint, out of a very memorable weekend!

Let the non-finalist corps in at any gate, why is it nessesary to go through the service gate? We have the wrist bands, who cares WHERE we go in?

(Sorry about spelling, I'm tired.)

Great weekend though.

[kusankusho]

First off - I can tell you guys know what you are doing with arranging a show, so please see if you can make it a little warmer and dryer next year! :P

Food - agreed. It was slow, not great quality, expensive and ran out fast. You are aware and on top of that - fantastic!

Parking - I got there early and had no trouble at all. We parked just down the street from the stadium so it was a short walk - no worries. At $5 it was a lot more reasonable than DCI finals.

The fireworks were out of your hands, I just wondered how Bucs felt about it. Too bad it couldn't have been timed just a little better and it would have been a great punctuation to the night.

I was surprised there was no intermission - I had to skip a corps to hit the facilities and wait in line for food. It's been many years since I attended DCA so I don't know/cant remember if that's standard procedure. I know when I did go to the little fan's room there was a line-up 4 deep at each - um - station. A lot of old geezers like me and maybe a beverage or two involved there... :P

I'll leave it to greater minds than mind to deterine if the venue is big enough. It seemed like you were sold out and were seating last minute fans in the endzones? Next year I'm buying my tickets early - like perhaps the day they go on sale (when is that anyway?).

I want to say thanks. My first DCA since '82 and I had a great time - saw some amazing corps, caught up with folks I marched with 24 years ago - introduced my family to senior corps - it was a great night! These few comments of mine are minor things at the most - if none of them are addressed for next year it won't be that big a deal for me - I'm planning on being there (that is if I don't march someplace - I'm still buzzed about what I saw last night). Thank you DCA!

Jim

[Fred Windish]

Joe,

I agree with you on that. The thinking must have been that non-performing corps members were arriving via the bus parking lot that was directly across from that gate. We realize though, a few corps had their members use private cars. If they parked over by the closed end of the stadium, it would have been a real hike. What I saw, was a PAETEC security force that can handle anything. Adding one more ID to acknowledge should not be a problem for them. They were experienced and actually worked! This type of thing is not my call, but I know Allen will read your suggestion.

Thanks.

Jim,

I have been tracking that whole food thing on the Rhinos message boards for months. The soccer fans are also becoming impatient. I expect improvement. The food and beverage manager, Wasi, is a great guy, and this was his first exposure of any kind to our "class reunion." Now he knows. I did hear the roast beef sandwiches were outstanding, and the pizza was terriffic, if you got there before they ran out.

What's sad is there were plenty of restrooms on the other side of the field that went unused, as very few spectators entered from that side of the stadium.

There is never an intermission during the final ten corps. It's not a real long night, and DCA does not want to upset the timing of any corps performance in the interest of fairness.

My personal opinion is yes, the stadium is smaller than we would like, but a next phase of construction is coming, maybe that will all change soon, as we play to the other side of the field. Still not clear.

[Snapettes Mom]

Have you ever thought about using WEBEX to broadcast DCA live? You can broadcast live in three different ways all at once.

People call in by phone for audio and log in online via WEBEX with a passcode (ala free for prelims and charge for finals). A live voice can be the comentator/moderator and pick up the audio from the field. At the same time a video feed or photos can be posted rapidly every somany seconds. High Bandwidth streaming video would be preferable. Not to mention a list of participants watching the broadcast can comment via IM together or call into show moderator and talk live inbetween shows. Whats nice is if you miss the live broadcast you can still down load the recorded broadcast to view later over and over. This could be sponsored by Dynasty or someone who already knows how something like this can work atleast as a delayed broadcast.

I think it's pretty effective. I already have taken several online coursed this way. This could certainly add to the strength of the DCA brand as it begins expand for a more 'prime-time' audience more aggressively across the nation.

Dennis

AKA The Snapettes Mom

Edited September 4, 2006 by Snapettes Mom

[Fred Windish]

Dennis,

Interesting post. We ARE in discussion about feeding video. It almost happened this year on a small test basis, but we decided this was an effort we should not undertake having just decided 24 hours earlier. There are also questions about copyrights, etc. John Donovan discussed this with Gary Baker (DCA's video contractor) this weekend. Both seem interested, but there is much to be resolved first. It's coming.

[Dave]

Don't know who's job it is specifically, but the lines were all but gone by the time we (Frontier) got on the field. Yeah, the weather sucked, but it would help corps get through those crummy weather shows if someone was on top of repainting the lines in such circumstances.

[ScottyG]

This was a great DCA weekend. Well worth the drive up from Florida. One of my friends who attended in a wheel chair was put off by the lack of handicapped parking close to the stadium. It does not appear to comply with State law. Also, many people complained about the long walk to Smith Street to buy tickets and then around the back of the stadium after buying tickets at the stadium. I pointed out that this is not a DCA issue but the layout of the stadium. That did not appear to help. I was a cold, wet sponge Saturday despite my raingear but managed to dry out and have a great Sunday with Alumni and Final along with a traditional pre-finals dinner with great drum corps friends. Looking forward to coming home again next year for bigger and better finals. Congratulations to all who participated in DCA this year and to the magnificint perfformers who came out on top.

Scotty

[AlbionNY Drum Line]

Yes, this is true, no hashes or lines, if you saw us (cru) right before "You may take the field" we were confused where to start our first set!

[Kamarag]

Don't know who's job it is specifically, but the lines were all but gone by the time we (Frontier) got on the field. Yeah, the weather sucked, but it would help corps get through those crummy weather shows if someone was on top of repainting the lines in such circumstances.

In DCA's defense, they repainted all the lines during the breaks and it didn't much matter. In Gold's case, the lines were repainted during the break after CorpsVets and before us, but by the time we got out there and started the show, they were gone.

The type of field at Peatek (FieldTurf) based with temporary paint (water-based) just isn't going to work with bad weather like we had on Saturday. Thankfully, it really put all 23 corps in the exact same position, and no one had any sort of competitive advantage (unless they had the forsight to rehearse without lines).

I applaud the folks from DCA and from Paetek for handling things as well as they did on Saturday.