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.

Today Bluecoats can notify their members, fans and the entire activity in moments by simply dropping a Social Media post. Between text, social media, e-mail and the website, you are never far from fresh information. But that’s not always been so. Keeping the members, parents and activity notified of Bloo news was a bigger chore “back in the day” and relied upon Director Messages and then later the Blue Review.

It started out as a typical winter break drum corps camp in late December 1987. There was plenty of excitement on its own because this was the second off-season rehearsal following Bluecoats cracking into the top 12. But for about a dozen members of the corps, this camp would be different. They would leave early and travel over 1,000 miles to do drum corps. In the off-season. On New Year’s Day.