2010 half summer reflection

As with all corps, the beginning of a summer tour holds high hopes, mysterious unknowns and surprise downers.

It is always exciting when your summer begins in your hometown. With seven Northwest events, the corps kicked off their 2010 season with the Seattle Xperience Marching Band Clinic followed by the NYMA Annual Auction at Husky Stadium. Powerful and supportive events, the members felt nothing but love as they continued on their 12,000 mile journey. Next up, the competitive events of Portland, Tri-Cities and Boise proved to the members how much their hard work was paying off. The audiences were pleasantly surprised at how awesome the show was! At every show the Cascades got a standing ovation, which is the best reward a performer can get. These first few shows scored in the high 60's, about 5 points higher than the start of the 2009 season.

As the corps headed South towards California, much cleaning and the closing of holes in the drill really manipulated most of their time. The scores continued to move forward and the show was well received by audiences in Utah and Nevada. The members were certainly in awe of the gigantic beauty of the Rocky Mountains.

Then came Northern California, the first match up with a close and honorable competitor, The Mandarins. The Cascades' close history with the Mandarins goes back about a decade, when the corps was hyper-competitive with them for the Division II DCI Championship title in 2001. Since then, there have been many many close battles between the two corps. Well on our first match up with the Mandarins this year, they beat the Cascades by one tenth of a point. AH! And the gap continued to widen between the two corps as the tour moved to So Cal. A epic highlight was a gorgeous free day in Santa Cruz: amusement rides, games, beach and restaurants, the members and staff had a perfect day.

Now it gets tough. The Northwesties have to spend some serious time in the sun of the South West, can you say, "Withering Houseplants?" Because the corps is made up of 85% students from the Northwest, this is where the tour starts to take its' toll on the members and even on the equipment of the corps. Unfortunately, every year we lose a couple of members due to health and spend a huge amount of our vehicle repair budget during this time. Everyone is stressed as it is the first "Wall" of the year.

Then we start to head East. It is still crazy hot, but the members are more tough now and the reality of national competition really sets in. A vehicle is left in Southern California to be repaired, the staff is solving more hole issues and all while trying to get cleaner. That score gap between us and the Mandarins continues to get larger. Just when you though it couldn't get any worse, the score drops over 4 points, now the score is only 1.8 better than our very first show! What this really means is that we are getting closer to a regional competition and the overall scores start to spread to make room for many corps. The higher placing corps get higher and the lower placing corps get lower, but that doesn't matter too much as the next big showdown is between the Cascades and Pioneer coming up in San Antonio.

The Texas events are exciting and powerful, Texas has huge marching bands and excellent corps. The first 2010 head to head competition between Pioneer and Cascades..... Unable to beat Pioneer in 2009, the corps pulls off an upset and beats Pioneer by 1.7 points! A small landmark for the members of the Cascades, but an important one as the corps continues to rebuild. The corps leaves Texas, beating Pioneer, six I & E top 5 finishes and quickly closing in on our friends, the Mandarins.