HISTORY: European tour on tap for Madison’s 50th anniversary - Part I

Note: This is part 1, a 35-year look back – reprinted from the June 17, 1988, DCW, Volume 17, Number 5

[Author’s note: I have interjected some additional memories of setting up the logistics for the Scouts’ tour of Europe and my experiences that will provide additional context.]

For an organization or a business to reach such a significant milestone as a 50th anniversary is quite an achievement today! Being a drum and bugle corps and celebrating five decades in existence is certainly rare. The Madison Scouts are about to do just that, most unusually.

Madison Scouts’ 1988 European tour; a journal - Part II

Part 2, a 35-year look back – reprinted from July 22, 1988, DCW, Volume 17, Number 8

[Vickers’ note: I will again insert some additional thoughts that further explain some of the details of the European journey. The tour began in West Germany, two years before East and West became one united country on October 3, 1990.]

This past month, the Madison Scouts set out for their 16-day tour of Europe. The tour would take them across the Rhine River in West Germany, Windmill country in The Netherlands, and finally to Shakespeare country in England.

For the Scouts, what made this tour more successful and interesting than any other was that it took place in foreign countries and that the feelings and emotions of those who participated were intense throughout.

Madison Scouts’ 1988 European tour; a journal - Part III

Part 3, a 35-year look back – reprinted from July 22, 1988, DCW, Volume 17, Number 8