Current and past members of the Springfield Public Schools. All girl drum and bugle corps honored their history at an All-Corps event last Friday, marking the end of summer and the impending school year, with marches from both current drum corps, the Central High Kilties and the Parkview Lassies, and performances from alumni groups representing Central and Parkview, as well as the now defunct corps, the Kickapoo Bonnies, Glendale Scotties and Hillcrest Highlanders. Ksmu spoke with event organizer Joanie Stant, a former Lassie and sponsor for the Current lassies, about the history and importance of Springfield’s drum and bugle corps:
Stant: R. Richie Robertson, the Scotsman that was the Boy Scout band leader here in town. He created the Kilties because music was super important to him, and he wanted opportunities for girls to do something like that. So, he started the Kilties and it was Springfield High School, and his wish was, as new schools opened, that they would each have a drum corps. We were the second ones at Parkview in 1956. Our doors opened and the lassies became part of the drum corps. In 1958, Hillcrest opened their doors and the Highlanders became a drum corps, and then Glendale followed in 1964 and then Kickapoo opened in 1971. The end of your sophomore year you would try out. And each corps had somewhere between 38 and 41 people. Depending on the school, you would have 150 girls trying out for 20 spots every year. Every year. And it was a big, big deal. For the most part, I think through the end of the 80s, the drum corps were still full. They had full force. But things began to be more difficult and we had smaller corps and not as many people trying out…