Those are the words I received from Dan Acheson, Executive Director of Drum Corps International, confirming the final approval for the Cascades to participate in the World Class tour. The process has been long and hard and at time seemed impossible, but after taking a year off, it is now a reality that the Cascades will return in 2009 as World Class. I want to thank everyone for their efforts to get us to this point especially those staff members who rallied last summer to save the Cascades including Mike Leone, Kurt Jull, Rob Lewis, Pat Davis, Kristine Leone, Kelly Rogers, Mark Staley, John Lewis, Ron Comfort and Ben Adams. I also want to give Mike Bujnowski special recognition for his work to facilitate the merger of the Cascades with Spokane Thunder. The addition of their members and supporters has been nothing short of phenomenal. Lastly, I want to thank all of the current members and staff members who will be part of the 2009 program.
In a lot of ways, 2009 reminds me of 2002. In that year, the Cascades were in their first year as a World Class (Division 1) corps. The corps was young with an unknown staff. The expectations were low, however, by the end of the season, the Cascades finished in the Top 12. We were the Cinderella corps that had gained the reputation of being “Giant Killers”. When I look into the eyes of the 2009 corps, I see many of the same faces. There is one big difference, however. We are coming back after taking a year off. Many of our vets are now marching elsewhere or have decided not to march. Our numbers are down and we have a new staff learning to work together. In some ways, we have a world class organization with an open class corps. It is now our challenge to shape that open class corps into a world class corps by the time we finish in Indianapolis, but we need help. If you are a recent vet, please join us to march in 2009. We still have openings in the horn line and color guard. If you are an alumni or a supporter, come to our find-raisers and events. We have a great auction and golf tournament planned. As usual, we will have our annual Memorial Day Performance in Yakima and as an added attraction, we have also scheduled a wine tasting tour. Watch our web site for more details and see you then.