Capital Regiment

The Capital Regiment drum & bugle corps was founded in the fall of 1992 by Rick Bays and Mark Holm. They were established to provide a program for youth that combined music and performance training, leadership, social and character development, and the challenge, excitement and self-discipline of drum and bugle corps competition.

The first priority for the organization was to establish a solid financial base to support program operations.  In 1994, Capital Regiment was licensed to run bingo and became their primary means of support for the corps. In 1997, the corps established its first program, the Capital Regiment Indoor Percussion Ensemble.  The drum line was very successful and finished 3rd place in the “Independent World Class” at the 1998 WGI indoor percussion championships.

This indoor program served as a launching pad for a drum and bugle corps as the fall of 1998 marked the beginning of the drum corps program. The summer of 1999 was the premier season for the Capital Regiment, participating in “Division III” competitions, including the Drum Corps (DCM) circuit prelims, placing 5th, the Canadian Open, finishing 5^th in the finals, the US Coast Guard Open, where they finished 9^th in the preliminaries, repeating a 9th place finish at the DCI championships.

The second year for Capital Regiment saw the corps progress in “Division III” competition, placing 4^th at the DCM prelims, a 6^th place finish at the DCI Midwest, two final positions at the Garden State Open (GSO), placing 5th, the US Coast Guard Open (2^nd), the North American Open preliminaries (6^th) and finally a 6th place at the 2000 DCI championships, winning the “Division III” percussion title. By the summer of 2001, the corps was doing a full summer of touring and was fairly large in size, moving up to the “Division II” class that year. There were a few dedicated individuals who gave lots of time and effort helping the corps. A talented but frequently changing instructional staff kept the corps moving upward competitively. That season, the corps won the DCM “Division II” title, were finalists at both the Canadian Open and US Coast Guard regionals, finishing 2^nd and 3^rd respectively before placing 4th place at the DCI “Division II” championships finals. This qualified the corps for the DCI quarterfinals where they finished in 21^st position.

In 2002, Capital Regiment continued its growth defending its DCM “Division II” title, with a string of 3^rd place finishes at the DCI Midwest championships, the North American Open and the US Coast Guard Open regionals. Their DCI performances placed them 2nd in “Division II” championship competition and ranked all the way up to 17^th place in 2002 DCI semifinals. The next season, the corps moved up into DCI’s elite “Division I” arena, where they placed 7^th at the DCM circuit finals and competed at the DCI East, DCI Midwest and DCI Southwestern regionals, finishing 8^th, 10^th and 11^th respectively. They ended the season with an 18^th place finish at the DCI quarterfinals.

The 2004 season turned out to be another competitive success. In fact, it would prove to be the corps’ most successful ranking in their history. Once again touring across the states, they participated in the DCI Southwestern (6^th), the DCI East (9^th) and the DCI Midwest (6^th) regionals before completing their season with a very impressive 14^th place finish at the DCI semifinals. In 2005, Capital Regiment performed extensively throughout the states that included an 8^th place finish at the DCI East regionals, as they continued to impress with a 15^th place finish at the DCI semifinals. In 2006, Capital Regiment once again traveled considerably with the DCI circuit regionals that saw them compete at the DCI Southeastern, placing 7^th along with 8^th place finishes at both the DCI Southwestern and DCI East championships. The corps ended the season with yet another strong finish, placing 16^th at the DCI semifinals.

The board of trustees of Capital Regiment met to discuss the return of the organization's competitive drum corps for the 2007 DCI season. After months of work and discussions, the board voted against fielding a corps for both the 2007 and 2008 seasons. This gave them the necessary time to realign their infrastructure to match the corps’ potential progress in meeting the ever demanding touring requirements. For too long, the administration ran without a solid structure. In the fall of 2008, after great effort and determination, the corps reorganized and returned to the field of competition in 2009 as an “Open Class” contender. Rick Bays remained as the corps director and the Regiment toured the DCI circuit which culminated at the DCI championships, placing 5^th in the finals.

Unfortunately, the return was short lived as the Capital Regiment was forced to disband after that season. In the face of a challenging economy affecting many businesses, the Capital Regiment was unable to offset a considerable decline in its primary source of revenue to a level sufficient for delivering a high-quality experience to the members of its organization. The Regiment continued to operate a charity bingo game to raise funds to for a potential return in the future.

In 2021, Rick Bays, Capital Regiment’s founder and executive director, decided it was time to transition the group for the future in hopes of once again seeing Capital Regiment compete in the performing arts. 2022 served as a transition year to recruit a new board of directors, all of which are alumni members and staff of the drum and bugle corps. Under new leadership, the organization closed the charity bingo game at the end of 2022 and changed its name to Capital Regiment Performing Arts. All of this aligned with a new strategic plan to launch a new WGI performance group.

As of 2024, Capital Regiment Performing Arts began recruiting for the 2025 winter season.

DCW, 10/02, p.1; DCW, 4.03, p.16; Paul Legault (DCX)

CORPS 2 items

Capital Regiment

Capital Regiment Columbus OH from the Bill Ives Collection

Capital Regiment

CapitalRegiment,Columbus,OH,LP1-WhiteCapital(RE-1.0x0.75)J_U_S from the Richard Elmquist Collection Contributed by Richard Elmquist

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