20th Maine Regiment

Founded in the fall of 1983, the 20^th Maine Regiment drum & bugle corps was based in Oakland after a famous Maine Civil War Regiment.

The 20th Maine began as a 30 member group with a volunteer staff and 3rd hand equipment. In its first two years, the corps grew in membership and finances. In their inaugural season, the corps competed as members of the Eastern Massachusetts circuit.

In 1985, the staff began to be paid, Robert Smith was flying up from Florida to write the charts and the corps went to its first DCI
Championships as an A/60 corps, missing the Finals by one spot. It seemed clear the corps was on the move.

In the winter of 1985, they were fortunate to have a professional fundraiser join us from Ohio. He told the corps director and staff to submit a budget, hire whom they wanted, and "think big". He rented an entire floor of an office building in Waterville, had office furniture delivered, and began to create a corporate structure for the drum corps. Brand new percussion equipment was purchased and he even flew his own private plane down to Tennessee to pick up our new mallet instruments.

In the spring of 1986, it was discovered that the fundraiser was in fact a professional con artist, wanted in several states. There was no foundation, no money and no sponsor of any kind. The office space hadn't been paid for, and neither had anything else. The folks who were running the corps, along with the staff and members, were looking at the season starting in a couple weeks and there was not a dime to be had.

The staff agreed to work for free, the bus company, by then the corps was 75 members strong, agreed to transport them in two buses on their DCI tour, and all the other creditors also agreed to let them get through the season for the sake of the kids.

That year, the 20th Maine Regiment competed in several shows down south in the “Open Class” and ended up 4th in DCI's “Class A” division in Madison with a 4^th place finish. They went on to the
quarterfinals where they finished 23^rd.

The corps disbanded almost immediately after returning home to Maine. many drum corps, it was the kids, staff, and supporters who helped to make this a very good drum corps in its 3rd and final year.

Paul Legault (DCX)

Members (2)