World Fife & Drum Friendship Festival - September 2015

Our speaker today was Kathy Dunn from the Towpath Volunteers. She came to tell us that the group is hosting a World Fife and Drum Friendship Festival in September.

The Towpath Volunteers Fife and Drum Corps started in 1978 and consists of a Junior Corps for beginners, Senior Corps which is the main performing group, an Honor Guard, and a Drum Line. They have performed in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Gasparilla Parade of Pirates in Tampa, Florida, Savannah’s St. Patrick's Day Parade, and Disney's Electric Light Parade at Walt Disney World in Florida.

In 2011, they were invited to attend the European Fife and Drum Festival in Saint Tropez, France. Despite the language barrier, they were welcomed and all had a great time. It was at that festival that the Volunteers met groups from Italy and Belgium as well as the host group from France. Lasting friendships were made, and the groups have stayed in contact since.

Now the Towpath Volunteers will be hosting a festival of their own, in Palmyra and Macedon. The events take place on September 18-20. On Friday, the groups will perform at the Palmyra-Macedon Schools, Marion Elementary School, Parkwood Heights and Creative Environment in Macedon as well as the Urban Choice School in Rochester and the VA Hospital in Canandaigua. The groups will split up to cover all the venues, except for Parkwood Heights, which will be the full group.

Then, On Saturday each group will perform at Canaltown Days in Palmyra and march in the Grand Parade at 4pm. Sunday’s events include a performance on Main Street in Macedon and a concert at Long Acre Farms. Monday, the groups will travel to Old Fort Niagara in Youngstown for a concert. After that, they will gather for a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner.

   In addition to the Towpath Volunteers, the following groups will be participating in the festival:
          - TROMMELFLUIT Fifes and Drums of Ypres, Belgium
          - Fife and Drums of Saint-Tropez, France
          - The group of Fifes and Drums of the City of Ivrea, Italy
          - Camden Continentals Fife and Drum Corps from Camden, NY USA

More information is available from the Towpath Volunteers website. We thank Kathy for providing us with this information, and the Towpath Volunteers for providing us with great musical entertainment. We wish all the groups a fun, successful festival!