The Williamsport area has just concluded hosting one world-class event in the Little League World Series. Now it will turn around and host another one when the DCA World Championships are held here this weekend, August 31 to September 2 at Williamsport Area High School’s STA stadium and at the Community Arts Center in downtown Williamsport. This event has been termed the “Super Bowl” of Drum Corps competition.

According to Allan Buell, president of Drum Corps Associates, the organization that stages this drum competition, this is a three-day event. Friday night is free and open to the public and is called the I&E show. This stands for Individual and Ensemble, and then the conclusion is the Mini Corps show, which will be held inside the historic Community Arts Center. Saturday is the preliminaries, and they begin at 4 p.m. at the STA Stadium at Williamsport High School with 20 Drum Corps from all over the world competing to make it into the finals. Sunday morning at 10 a.m. also at the stadium, is the Alumni Spectacular. All this leads to the World Finals, which take place at the Stadium on Sunday evening beginning at 5 p.m.

“It’s an amazing spectacle to watch and listen to,” Buell told Webb Weekly. “It is the Super Bowl of Drum Corps competitions. There is a competitive process that begins in June and there are competitions all over the country every weekend leading to the finals.”

He said there are similar competitions for younger drum corps groups. “The DCI World Championships is for younger folks. Once you hit age 23, you are no longer able to participate. They are their very close Strategic Partner.”

There has been extensive and long-term planning in preparation for this event, according to Buell.

“We have been working for this for the past two years. It’s a massive event to take on and involves my staff, the city, the county, the police, the fire team, the headquarter hotel, 15 other hotels, parks and recreation, the CAC staff and countless others,” Buell said.

The Lycoming County Visitors Bureau of the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce served as the spark plug in recruiting the DCA Championships here.

“From Day One, I have been very impressed with how the Visitors Bureau folks, as well as everyone at Lycoming County offices, understands and respects the tourism dollar,” Buell said. “This event is going on 54 years old now, and we are begged to return to each city we hold our championships in. In four days this will bring close to a 6 million dollar impact on the local economy. We have been welcomed with open arms.”

Jason Fink, Executive Vice President of the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber, described what the Bureau did to bring this event here and some of the preparations that were made.

“The Lycoming County Visitors Bureau began discussions with Drum Corps Associates (DCA) two years ago about the potential to host the world championships here in Williamsport. DCA put a bid out in early 2017 that the Visitors Bureau submitted a proposal. This proposal was selected out of those that were received by DCA, and we were announced at the 2017 world championships in Rochester. The current contract that the Visitors Bureau has is for hosting is two years. “Visit Rochester” estimated that the economic impact from their hosting the world championships was between $5 million to $6 million. This year, there will be approximately 30 corps coming into Williamsport and Lycoming County for the events. There will be corps here from across the United States in addition to Canada and England. The corps will be practicing at various sites in Lycoming County during their stay here over Labor Day weekend. Programming begins Friday, August 31 in downtown Williamsport with the Individual and Ensemble competition. This event begins at 6 p.m. and will take place in various locations in the central business district. It will culminate with the finals for the I&E competition taking place inside the Community Arts Center. The Community Arts Center is sponsoring the Friday night program. Saturday, September 1 the focus turns to the Williamsport Area High School at STA stadium. As part of the bid proposal, the Lycoming County Visitors Bureau committed to working with the Williamsport Area School District to enlarge the stadium from its capacity of 4,000 seats up to 6,000 seats.

“We are extremely excited to be hosting the DCA World Championships here in Williamsport. This was a true community effort in bringing them here including the Williamsport Area School District, City of Williamsport, and numerous volunteers that have stepped forward to help coordinate this event over the last year,” Fink said. “Williamsport and Lycoming County have a strong history in the performing arts, and this event adds to that legacy. Now when we finish up with the Little League World Series, people can turn their attention to another world-class event here in our community with the DCA World Championships. We look forward to working with DCA this year and hopefully for many years to come.”

The DCA Preliminary Competition will begin at 4 p.m. and will go until approximately 11 p.m. On Sunday, September 2 the Alumni Show kicks off the day at 10 a.m. The World Championships begin at 5 p.m. and expects to wrap-up at 11 p.m. Paid parking at the high school is available. Free parking with shuttle service is available at Williamsport Area Middle School. Sponsors for the Drum Corps World Championships, in addition to the Lycoming County Visitors Bureau, include UPMC Susquehanna, Panda Patriot, and Wegmans. Tickets for the event are available online by going to http://www.dcabilltown.com or by purchasing them at the STA Stadium box office on September 1 and 2.