The Spartans Drum and Bugle Corps is an Open Class competitive junior drum and bugle corps. Based in

Nashua, New Hampshire Nashua is a city in southern New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 91,322, the second-largest in northern New England after nearby Manchester, New Hampshire, Manchester. Along with Manc ...

, the Spartans performs in

Drum Corps International Drum Corps International (DCI) is a governing body for junior drum and bugle corps responsible for developing and enforcing rules of competition, and for providing standardized adjudication at sanctioned drum and bugle corps competitions througho ...

(DCI) competitions. The Spartans won the DCI Division II World Championship in 1997, 1998, 2004, 2005, 2007, and in 2019 and 2023 won the DCI Open Class Championship that replaced Divisions II and III in 2008.

History

''Source:'' The Spartans Drum and Bugle Corps was founded in 1955 by Albert LaFlamme. LaFlamme was succeeded as corps director by his son, Peter. Today, the corps is run by Albert's grandson, Paul LaFlamme. A fire in 1999 destroyed nearly everything the corps owned: instruments, uniforms, equipment, vehicles. The dedication of the corps' members, staff, and supporters, as well as the greater drum corps community, kept the corps in operation and in competition, with the corps placing second that year at DCI Division II Finals in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

. Despite being DCI Division II Champions five times, in 2009 the

economic downturn In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...

forced the Spartans into bankruptcy. Bingo revenues had dropped off to a point where the corps discontinued that fundraising activity. Efforts to sell the corps hall had not been successful. The corps went through a year of inactivity and reorganized, including a change of management and sale of the corps hall. The corps then successfully returned to competition in 2010. Since returning to the DCI competition field in 2010, the Spartans have never placed outside the top 5 in the Open Class championship. The corps has also qualified for World Class semi finals consecutively since 2012, regularly finishing above a number of World Class corps. In 2019, ten years after the corps went inactive, the Spartans were crowned the champions of the 2019 DCI Open Class World Championship with a score of 81.050. They were also the only corps to go undefeated throughout the regular season before world finals week. This was repeated in 2023 when the Spartans were once again crowned undefeated Open Class World Champions, scoring 82.263.

Sponsorship

The Spartans Drum and Bugle Corps is a registered non-profit

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

musical organization. The president of the board is Paul "PG" LaFlamme Jr., the operations director is Anthony Montesion, and the corps director is Jared Logan.

Show summary (1972–2023)

''Source:''

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spartans Drum and Bugle Corps Drum Corps International Open Class corps Musical groups established in 1955 Organizations based in New Hampshire 1955 establishments in New Hampshire