Sundowners at 25: a blaze of color, the thunder of drums, high steps set to brass music
By Jeff Ash
(Leader-Telegram, August 1978)

A drum and bugle corps at close range is an assault on the senses. Colors burst forth from the uniformed marchers and the flags borne by the high-stepping young people. The late afternoon sun glints off the meticulously shined wind instruments.

It all parades about in an almost-military cadence to martial and Latin-sounding syncopation. It is the Sundowners Drum and Bugle Corps of Eau Claire, marching down a small-town Main Street or performing in competition.

Named the Sundowners since 1971, the corps was formed 25 years ago last winter as an extension of Boy Scout Troop 150. It has, at times, been the Eau Claire Boy Scout Band, Boys’ Band and Boys’ Drum and Bugle Corps.

Evolved gradually
In the early- and mid-1950’s, the corps confined its activities to local parades and Boy Scout musical activities. It gradually evolved into a competitive drum and bugle corps. The bugles were added in 1958.

Girls were admitted to the corps in 1971 and the Boys’ Drum and Bugle Corps title was scrapped. Now the other sex would enjoy the long bus rides, hours of practice and steeled, stony concentration.

Walt Brown started the corps in the early months of 1953 and his son, Mike, was a member and corps director from that time until 1969. The younger Brown said Monday that his father recognized the advantages of a drum corps early in the unit’s existence.

Entered contests
“As we acquired more knowledge as a parade unit, we entered contests. It was one of the prime places for getting revenue for the corps,” he said. Even then, he added, there were long hours of practice and preparation.

Another original corps alumnus is LaMont Page Jr. of Bloomer. Not surprisingly, Page is a music instructor at Bloomer High School, and he readily admits that he patterns his marching band after the Eau Claire Corps.

“There were about 25 boys in it the first month or two,” he said, “but then it grew fairly fast to about 60 or 70 and stayed pretty steady.” Page was also a corps director until 1969.

Most boys were volunteers in the mid-1950’s, but a few were placed in the corps by city or county judges as a solution to their juvenile problems.

Brown downplayed the role of the corps a the redemption of troubled youths, saying it was “just an outlet for certain kids.” He explained that those boys that were in trouble and musically inclined joined the corps.

Keeps kids ‘straight’
“Some of them have admitted that they feel if they hadn’t joined the corps, they would have turned out wrong. I think we just kept them so actively involved they didn’t have time for other things,” Brown said.

Current Sundowner members can relate to that. Joseph Vig, corps president, said practice for the 1978 season began in October, 1977.

Rehearsals and workouts move indoors to Central Junior High School when the weather becomes too cold outside. The color guard of flags and rifles continues in indoor competition throught the winter.

Horn players and drummers learn new music and practice marching until they are able to go outside, usually about May 1. After that, it’s Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 6:30 to 10 p.m. for the entire corps and even more during the afternoon for horn players and drummers.

May to September season
The current season began May 13 with parades in Altoona and Eau Claire and will conclude Sept. 4 with a parade and competition in Merrill.

The Sundowners will be in action Saturday in Crystal Falls, Mich., and Sunday in Minocqua. They leave Wednesday for American Legion national competition in New Orleans Aug. 19-21 and Veterans of Foreign Wars nationals in Dallas, Texas, Aug. 22-24.

Vig said the old Boy’s Corps was one of the leading corps in Wisconsin in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, but membership declined to the point at which the corps’ board of directors decided to admit girls.

After the rebuilding process began in 1969, the corps made a gradual climb back to competitive respectability. The Sundowners placed 11th at the 1973 VFW nationals in New Orleans and seventh at the 1974 VFW competition in Chicago.

Membership at the time of the Chicago success was at an all-time high of 90. Vig said 1975, though, was a bad year, and in 1976, the Sundowners’ cadet corps was added to the regular corps.

Just missed finals
Last year, the corps just missed making the final field of 12 corps in VFW nationals, finishing 13th. The corps is now at 65 members and the cadet corps has been re-established as a feeder corps.

Vig said he feels the Sundowners are a good corps and fare well in good competition. He added, though, that it cannot be compared to the Wausau Story Drum and Bugle Corps or the Madison Scouts, two organizations with membership levels at the maximum 128.

Brown compared being a member of a competitive drum and bugle corps to being a member of a team sport. “It’s music instead of a football. It’s almost a lifestyle in its own right and it gets to the point that it is a meaningful activity,” he said.

The corps’ headquarters is a former store and supply company buildng at 1004 Menomonie St. It looks like the home of a drum and bugle corps, with the Sundowners’ 1948 buses along one side and a practice field on the other.

Vig and several other volunteers are always at the building, repairing the buses, checking out the instruments, making arrangements for newspaper pickups, and preparing - always preparing - for an upcoming trip.

Few paid staff
The only paid personnel are the horn, drum and marching instructors, mostly UW-Eau Claire music students and former corps members. “It’s a shame to say what we pay them. They get $65 per month for four hours per week, but they put in a lot more time than that,” Vig said.

Vig, whose regular job is a patrolman with the Eau Claire Police Department, said most of the uniforms are made by a parents’ committee. Likewise, travel costs are cut down by camping out and cooking meals on the buses.

He said the cost of lodging and feeding 65 Sundowners for one weekend comes to about $3 per menber.

Raising money is a regular pastime of volunteer organizations everywhere, and the Sundowners hold chicken and steak dinners, conduct newspaper drives, and get private donations to supplement their competition winnings.

In the last couple of weeks, though, fund raising has taken a back seat to preparation for the Legion and VFW nationals. All of it to be laid on the line in New Orleans and Dallas after they step on the buses early Wednesday morning.