ON TOUR: Blue Devils Stop in Great Bend

The award-winning Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps stopped in Great Bend Monday during a cross-country tour.

Kristen Lichtenthal, a member of the management team, said the 179 artists come from all over the world, including a few from Japan and England. Most are from California, where the Blue Devils are based, but there are members from coast to coast. Lichtenthal herself is from Florida.

“We started working together as a band at the end of May when we moved into the dorms at the University of Wyoming in Laramie to begin our rehearsal process. We spent two weeks there learning our show and then hit the road on June 16 to begin our cross-country tour,” she said.

The Blue Devils are part of a larger organization called Drum Corps International. By the end of this tour on Aug. 10, they will have competed against DCI teams from all over the United States. “We’ve been competing pretty much since we got on the road.”

At any given time, the corps travels with 30 to 45 personnel, meaning more than 200 Blue Devils are on the road. They form a 16-vehicle convoy that includes charter buses for artists and staff, a mobile kitchen and trucks for all the equipment.

Lichtenthal knew that Great Bend once had its own DCI team, the now-defunct Argonne Rebels. “I hope they come visit us while we’re here,” she said.

A few former Argonne Rebels players sat in the stands Monday morning for the first rehearsal on the football field. June White said he played soprano bugle with the Rebels from 1976 to 1979.

“I loved it,” he said. “It was in my blood.” To raise money for their trips, members like White joined the Rent a Rebel program. “They rented us out to people.” Pulling weeds in a soybean field helped him have money to buy souvenirs on the road.

Although the Blue Devils planned to perform their full routine after their 7:30 p.m. rehearsal, they would not be in uniform. They had planned to leave at 11:55 p.m. Monday for their next stop, Tulsa, Oklahoma.