Golden Empire

The Golden Empire drum and bugle corps was founded in the fall of 2013 at Bakersfield College as an extension of the existing College drumline program.

After recruiting and staffing was added, a musical program was developed and auditions were held. Members of the new corps rehearsed throughout the Winter and Spring, then the corps held a training camp in the mountains at Lebec. On May 21^st, 2014, DCI announced that Golden Empire was one of 7 new or renewed corps approved to enter competition that summer. On June 20^th, 2014, the corps made its competitive debut, marching 93 members as a DCI “Open Class” member. For its first season, Golden Empire scheduled 8 regional competitions in California, placing 4^th in the SoCal “Open Class” contest.

The corps would go on to be a perennial participant in the SoCal “Open Class” championships, placing 4^th from 2015 to 2019, expanding their tour to include the state of Arizona in 2015, competed in the infamous Drums Along the Rockies in Denver in 2016, traveled to the states of Oregon & Washington in 2017 and performed in the 2018 & 2019 DCI “Open Class” finals, finishing in 11^th & 9^th position respectively. The Bakersfield unit also competed in the DCI “World Class” preliminaries, where they placed 35^th & 31^st in 2018 & 2019.

After the 2020 pandemic had postponed the next 2 competitive seasons, the corps returned to full activity, making the decision to remain strictly in California, where they placed 4^th in the 2022 SoCal “Open Class” championships, followed by 3^rd place in 2023, their highest ranking to date and two 4^th place finishes in 2024 & 2025.

Golden Empire Performing Arts; Drum Corps International; Drum Corps World, July 2014; Paul Legault (DCX)

LOADING.....