84th Bucktail Regiment

The 84^th Bucktail Regiment from Emporium was a junior drum & bugle formed in 1963 and named after a famed Civil War Infantry that was nicknamed the "Bucktail Regiment", as they wore bucktails on their hats as a regimental badge of honor.

Its immediate goal was to see if there was enough interest in operating a corps in a small community. The meetings were held on the third floor of the Community Center located in the heart of the business district. After several meetings it was decided to start raising money to purchase used equipment. The goal at this time was to obtain instruments and rehearse for the borough of Emporium's Centennial parade in 1964.

Emporium at one time had a town band. When it disbanded there was a small sum of money that was placed in the local bank. This money, after negotiations with some of the former town band members, was transferred to the new drum corps. This money along with a bank loan and other contributions provided us with the money to purchase necessary drums and bugles from Truman Crawford of "Yankee Rebel" fame.

An interesting side note; after waiting for over two weeks to receive the instruments that had been shipped, a search was requested regarding the status of the equipment. The U.S. Post Office traced the sent equipment to Emporia, KS. Within less than a week the equipment finally arrived in Emporium.

The two men who spearheaded this organization from its start to its demise were the late Joseph Noto and Robert Olivett. The two men ran the corps as co business managers. 84th succeeded in meeting its goal and made its debut by participating in the huge Emporium Centennial Parade in the summer of 1964. Although small in number at first, the corps slowly grew in size and fame throughout NWPA and SWNY.

They eventually owned its own equipment truck and building for rehearsals. Equipment and uniforms ran in excess of $50,000. For a small community like Emporium this almost seemed like "Mission Impossible”.

The corps entered the field of competition in 1972 as members of the Penn York “Class B” circuit, finishing in 7^th place at the championships in their inaugural season. In 1973, the 84th competed in the US Open “Class A” division with a 32^nd finish and participated at the 1974 DCI championships, finishing in 56^th position. The Regiment entered the “Class A” North Tonawanda Open with a 9^th place finish in 1975 and competed at both the American International Open and US Open “Class A” championships the following season, finishing in 24^th and 34^th position respectively.

The corps remained active over the course of 1977 before disbanding in 1978.

Paul Legault (DCX)

CORPS 1 items

84th Bucktail Regiment

BucktailRegiment,Emporium,PA,Pin1(RE-1.75x2.75)J_U_S from the Richard Elmquist Collection

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