It was the staple hoax of every drum corps summer.  It was a tribute to our gullibility as members with news from the “real world” when we were living within the drum corps bubble.  And it was something that spread, annually, across many drum corps each summer.  But how did this annual “tradition” get started?  Chalk it up to a couple of Bluecoats who wanted to test the waters on how far a rumor could spread in a drum corps summer.

Sometimes history does repeat itself. 2021 is not the first time the Bluecoats returned to the field following a virus outbreak in America. In 1976 an outbreak of virus labeled Legionnaires disease (named for the outbreak being connected to a Legionnaires convention) hit the east coast of the United States. The 1976 Drum Corps International World Championships were scheduled for Philadelphia, capitalizing on the nation’s Bicentennial celebrations in the location of our nation’s founding.

Back in the early days of Bluecoats the drum corps front ensemble looked very different than it does today. Actually, there was NO front ensemble. During the early 1970s everything on the field had to be carried and nothing was “grounded” anywhere. Tympani? Carried it. Marimba? Carried it. Chimes? Yep, carried it! By the end of the decade corps were allowed to “ground” a few items, but they still had to be carried on and off the field. By the mid 1980s the rules changed and a boundary off the field was allowed for “pit” equipment but on-field performers weren’t allowed, at first, to enter and leave this area between the 30s and off the front sideline.