2006 Tour memories from Martha Baba
Impulse Drum & Bugle Corps has been hosting watch parties on Facebook Live during this pandemia. On Saturday, July 18, 2020 I was invited to make a brief appearance. The invitation inspired me to write just a few of the memories from 2006, which is the year Impulse Drum & Bugle Corps won the Championship in Division III in Madison, Wisconsin.
My husband and I have been volunteering for Impulse since 1999 when the corps was first started. There are a lot of memories but I will stick to 2006. My husband and I took over the Souvie booth selling Impulse merchandise back in 2000. While my kids in the corps were doing what they were supposed to do, we had our own things to do in the suvey booth.
My husband and I flew to Chicago picked up a rental car and drove to Madison, WI. The corps was already in the housing site in Rio, Wisconsin. Rio was thirty minutes away from downtown. We set up the booth outside the Camp Randall Stadium.
We were anxious to see the corps so we took a drive to Rio. It was a nice drive filled with corn fields as far as your eyes could see. Once we made it to the school I went across the street to the vegetable stand I had seen right before arriving to the school. I wanted to buy 80 ears of corn for everyone in the corps but the price was too high. I ended up buying other vegetables to give to the kitchen staff. While talking to the nice lady at the stand and explaining we were visiting from California and that the corps was competing at the University of Wisconsin stadium. The lady suddenly started counting corn putting the freshly picked corn in crates. I could not believe it. My heart was filled with joy. The lady was donating 80 ears of corn and she offered to drive me back to the school. The ladies in the kitchen were surprised that I had someone donate the corn. Next day her husband came back with more corn.
On Championships day for Division II-III, I was inside the stadium and my husband was outside minding the booth. Impulse had a great performance! I felt the corps had done a wonderful job as they nailed every solo, they sounded great and the guard was on fire. I patiently waited to hear the scores. When they announced that Impulse was in first place I jumped out of my seat and could not wait to tell my husband. I headed out and I ran as fast as I could feeling so excited for the kids in the corps that had worked so, so hard. Our staff was incredible that year and they all deserved it. All their hard work had finally paid off. The tour of 2006 is one of the most memorable years in our time with Impulse Drum & Bugle Corps.
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