The Latest
Monday Memory: Coming Back Strong after Missing a Year
In 1978 the Bluecoats were sitting on top of the Ohio drum corps world. Tucked into their belt was state championships with the VFW and American Legion, but in their cap? How about the coveted American International Open Class A title? But the accolades hid deeper challenges, according to Director Tom Jakmides about their trek to the Championship Week in 1978, “At the end of the 1978 season… our equipment truck died in Kansas City, our uniforms were six years old and our horns were falling apart.”
Jon Vanderkolff Inducted to Bluecoats Hall of Fame
Along with Jim Moore, we inducted Jon Vanderkolff to the Bluecoats Hall of Fame during the Bluecoats Telethon at the beginning of August. Although we couldn’t do our regular in-person celebrations, Bluecoats CEO Mike Scott, Executive Advisor David Glasgow, and Program Coordinator Dean Westman had a video call to chat about why Jon Vanderkolff is so deserving of this honor.
Recovery Fund Surpasses $300,000 Thanks to Bluecoats Community!
Thanks to the incredible support of the Bluecoats Community, we’ve hit yet another milestone on the way to our $350,000 2020 recovery goal. We remain committed to providing life-changing performing arts programming, but this would not be possible without the support of the Bluecoats Community. Thank you for your continued support during this unprecedented time!
Jim Moore Inducted to Bluecoats Hall of Fame
During the Bluecoats Telethon at the beginning of August, we inducted Jim Moore to the Bluecoats Hall of Fame. Although we couldn’t do our regular in-person celebrations, Bluecoats CEO Mike Scott, Executive Advisor David Glasgow, and Program Coordinator Dean Westman had a video call to chat about why Jim Moore is so deserving of this honor.
Support Bluecoats and Win Amazing Bluecoats VIP Experiences!
We're all looking forward to the return of the Bluecoats Drum & Bugle Corps and the other incredible programming that the Bluecoats organization had to suspend in 2020. In order to celebrate the hopeful return of the Bluecoats in 2021, and to raise funds in support of our recovery, we're giving away an incredible list of VIP experiences!
Monday Memory: The first time the community helped fund the need
The 2020 Bluecoats are at about 80% of their funding goal, as Fall approaches, in trying to replace lost revenue from a canceled drum corps season and a pandemic-paused Bingo operation. Our drum corps community has helped in large part filled the funding gap. But it’s not the first time the community has come up big for the Canton organization.
Monday Memory: When it took three days to get a contest finished
In modern days, drum corps pull into a power regional and perform once. But it used to be to play the regional Final, you had to place high enough in prelims. Twenty years ago that was a same day gig, doing prelims in the morning and those who made finals got to play again that night. At best a corps might spend two days in town for this one show. But there was a time when it took three days to figure out who was in Finals. And it wasn’t for a regional.