Notes From Giants Stadium

On Saturday, June 30, the Crossmen and several other corps performed at Giants Stadium. Since Dave wasn't feeling well that evening, he stayed behind in our RV and I rode in the "vollie van" (volunteer van). We left our housing site at 4:15 PM and arrived at the stadium at 5:45 PM. Parking at the stadium complex was a royal pain. The Meadowlands complex that houses the stadium was also hosting the New Jersey State Fair. As soon as we passed the fairgrounds, we encountered the remnants of that day's flea market. Finally, just before approaching the race track, we found the parking lots that had been set aside for the drum corps show.

As we arrived at the stadium, the kids donned their uniforms on the buses. As soon as they emerged from the buses and picked up their hats and instruments, they lined up at attention. Once they were all assembled, they marched into the stadium in an orderly formation. In the meantime, the food crew prepared a hand-cart with water and gatorade, which would accompany the corps into the stadium, so that they could be well hydrated before they performed. Once that was done, we got the previously prepared food trays out of the reefer and put them into the oven, and set up the serving table. Just before entering the stadium to watch our show, one other foodie and I checked on the items in the oven, stirred them and adjusted the oven temperature.

Immediately after the performance, the foodies came back to the food truck and put dinner on the tables. That night's supper was IBS, a hodge podge of leftovers that included chili, meatball subs, ziti, macaroni salad, chicken fingers and french fries. We also had some brownies for dessert. And of course, the standard PB&J table was set for those who don't eat real food. That table is set out at every meal and snack, including breakfast. The gatorade table was also set out.

Upon changing out of their uniforms, the locusts kids descended on the food. Since we had no running water, we had to take the empty pots and pans and pile them into our three industrial-sized sinks for washing the next morning. All three sinks were overflowing by the end of the meal. The good thing, though, was that we had used most of the leftovers.

After finishing their meal, the kids split up and did various things. The snare drummers found a place between the food and equipment trucks to form a circle and rehearse. Some of the trumpet and mellophone players practiced near the buses. Some of the guard members found a place to spread out between our trucks and those of the corps next to us (the Boston Crusaders) to rehearse. And a section leader took one of the rookie guard members aside for some one-on-one instruction. She pounded out a beat on a woodblock while the rookie marched. After a moment, the leader stopped her, corrected some technical flaw in her marching technique, and went through the same drill again. I don't know how long they did this. By this time, it was about 10:00 PM.

Finally, everything was packed and the convoy pulled out of the stadium at approximately 10:50 PM. We arrived back at our housing site at 12:15 and everybody went straight to bed.