BRISTOL -- The drum and bugle corps competition at this year's Fourth of July festivities will have some extra spice.
According to Anthony Mederos, longtime band chairman for the Fourth of July Committee, the world champion Cadets from Allentown, Pa., and the Phantom Regiment of Rockford, Ill., will both compete this year on July 3 and march in the parade the next day. The Phantom Regiment hasn't marched in Bristol since 1965.
The band assignments are made at the annual convention of Drum Corps International, held this year in Pasadena, Calif. Mederos and committee members Fran O'Donnell and Ed Correia attended this year's convention.
"We're happy to have the Phantom Regiment back," said Mederos, noting that the corps finished third in the DCI finals at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., last August.
In addition to the Cadets (sponsored by Youth Education in the Arts) and the Phantom Regiment, the field for this year's competition will include Carolina Crown of Fort Mill, S.C. (seventh at the DCI finals), the Crossmen (also sponsored by YEA), The Magic of Orlando, Fla.; the Division II East Coast Jazz of Malden, Mass., and the Division III Targets of Springfield, Mass. The Targets will be here for the first time.
For O'Donnell, a former parade and general chairperson, and Correia, it was their first visit to a DCI convention.
"It was awesome," said O'Donnell. "It was a motivational thing to pump you up so you can produce a good show."
Said Correia, "DCI people do a great job of promoting their product."
"A lot of these drum corps have hundreds of applicants," said Correia. "A lot get turned away."
To accommodate all the drummers, buglers and other corps members, Mederos is still trying to round up places for them to sleep.
"I have five schools locked in as housing sites right now, but I'm still looking for two more locations," he said.
The Summer Music Preview competition is the Fourth of July Committee's biggest fundraiser. According to Mederos, last year's event attracted nearly 3,000 people to Dietz Field at Mt. Hope High School and netted about $12,000.
Ticket prices this year will again be $25 for premium seating, $20 for other reserved seating and $10 for lawn seating.
Tickets will go on sale on March 1 at Gil's TV and Appliances, 397 Metacom Ave., or by mail with checks payable to Bristol Fourth of July Band Committee and sent to P.O. Box 825, Bristol 02809.
For information, call (401) 253-0445.
SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL / MANNY CORREIRA
Carolina Crown, from Fort Mill, S.C., placed seventh at last year's Drum Corps International World Championships, which was held at Gillette Stadium. Carolina Crown will be one of the featured drum and bugle corps in the Bristol Fourth of July Committee's annual Summer Music Preview competition on July 3.
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