We've been Marching Forth for over 50 years!

As the activity celebrates “March Forth” and the hopes of a regular competitive season in 2022, Bluecoats have been doing this marching thing for well over 50 years. While the organization turns 50th this year, the marching roots were in town long before that. The people who would pen their names to the formation of Bluecoats had participated in the drum corps activity in Canton and Massillon dating back to the 1940s. Bringing a taste of that to the Boys Club was the kindling that would start the fire in 1972.

Enjoy a look at our history in images, pulled from the archives, for every year we have fielded a marching ensemble. While each season offers a different look, what you see is only a taste of what over 3,000 young people have experienced in Stark County, Ohio. Some years have only a smattering of images and some have an extensive collection. You might be surprised to see that there are images for years where we didn't take the field. In 1979, 1983 and 2020 the organization was intended to field and was still operational while the summer went without Bluecoats on the turf. Between 1989 and 2000 we share in public for the first time ever images from our printed yearbooks given to the members.

So begin your journey here, prior to 1972, or pick your year from this menu.