Drum corps battle invades Van Buren

story by Marla Cantrell
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At 3 a.m. on Tuesday morning (July 20), 135 bedraggled musicians from the Santa Clara Vanguard will file off tour buses, spend the next half-hour dragging backpacks inside the Van Buren High School gym, and then drop onto the air mattresses they carry with them throughout the summer.

Within five hours, the same group will be practicing for the 7:30 p.m. performance of the Drum Corps International “Battle on the Border VII” at Van Buren’s Blakemore Field.

California’s Santa Clara Vanguard is a six-time world champion. It is one of the seven drum and bugle corps spending the summer on the road to gear up for the DCI championship, which will be held in Indianapolis in August. The teams are not affiliated with schools; they operate as independent youth organizations.

The performers in the world class division are usually between the ages of 19 and 21.  Each has to audition for a spot on the tour. Ron Smith, Van Buren’s band director and organizer of Tuesday’s show, said the competition is stiff.

“The selection process would make American Idol look like a Sunday picnic,” Smith said. “There are four are five phases they have to go through. Thousands try out and only 135 can be selected for each world class corp.”

The seven groups begin a cross country venue of performances on Memorial Day.  Following behind the five tour buses are three tractor trailer rigs, one fitted with an industrial kitchen where volunteers — many of them parents of the students — spend hours cooking and serving five meals a day. It takes a lot of food to feed performers spending up to eight hours a day practicing in the sweltering heat.

It’s a major undertaking, and one that takes expert planning to pull off. The other corps: nine-time DCI World Champions, The Cadets from Allentown, Pa.; The Colts from Dubuque, Iowa; Crossmen from San Antonio, Texas; Teal Sound from Jacksonville, Fla.; Music City from Nashville, Tenn.; and Forte’ from Grand Prairie, Texas, will also be housed at area high school gyms. The schools opening their doors are as far away as Clarksville and as close as Greenwood.

The Van Buren performance is the only Arkansas stop on the tour. Smith equates the competition to an Olympic event. The performers must not only play and perform well, they must also be in top physical form. The maneuvers on the field are not easy ones:  there are dance routines, long sprints from one mark to the next, and moves so precise that even one slip could cost them the night’s win.

“It’s not your father’s marching band. They are running all over the place, carrying heavy percussion instruments. The stamina and training of these performers would make a marathon athlete proud,” Smith said.

Smith believes the opportunity to host the show is a win for the community and for the school.

“If you had the Dallas Cowboys here and could show the local players the practices, they’d know what it takes to become a professional athlete,” Smith said. “The work ethic, the professionalism — we can show them what’s possible, the attitude, the dedication you need. Seeing this competition does the same for our local bands.”

The corps practice throughout the day and invite the public attend. It opens up an opportunity for those who might not be able to pay for the tickets for the night’s performance.

During each competition the corps are judged and a winner is announced. There is no monetary reward. But the tour is a chance for the corps to develop the performance they plan to present in Indianapolis for the DCI World Class title.

Smith credits his band booster club for supporting the competition. It costs $25,000 to bring the DCI tour to town. If it rains out, the boosters still have to pay. Fortunately, that’s never happened. Last year, the event raised $55,000 from ticket and concession sales.  But Smith said there is other money coming into Van Buren from the event.

“We have people come here from Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas,” Smith said. “A man from Cincinnati called to tell me he was coming. He’s a Santa Clara Vanguard fan. … There is an underground cult following for the DCI tour. … People on average will travel four hours to see this kind of event. They usually travel in groups of four. Some spend the night in hotels. It’s great for our economy.”

Tickets cost between $15 to $25. On Monday, $6,500 worth of tickets had already been sold through the Drum Corps website. On Tuesday, you can buy tickets at the Blakemore Field office at 2202 Alma Blvd., beginning at 8 a.m. The performance starts at 7:30 p.m.