Why Am I Resuscitating Interest in The Hatters Drum Corps?
Even to me it is apparent that it is a little ridiculous to resuscitate a website for a drum corps that ceased activity over sixty-years ago. Especially since seeing that other sites honoring and remembering old time drum corps have long since been taken down or abandoned. I begun this website in 2005 in the heyday of old drum corps nostalgia and the novelty of websites. It was created with a free template and HTML code, which Google eventually informed me would no longer be acceptable for effective search. That and certain family health issues led me to take the site down and even let the domain name expire.
An email from an old friend having a link to the obituary of Arlene “Skippy” Hall (Sinsar), the Hat Makers Drum Corps majorette, seen on this website’s home page header, rekindled my interest in restarting the site.
My friend, when seeing the obituary, was prompted to ask if I knew Skippy from my time in the Hatters Drum Corps. I had to tell him that I was 3 years old when she retired from the corps to get married. I sent him some of the pictures of Skippy I had from my father’s photos collection. He replied that he wish he knew more about The Hat Maker Drum Corps to which I replied that I might someday put the website back up. So here we are.
As a young boy, my dad, who always loved drum corps, used to drive down to the corner of Main and White streets, park the car and we’d listen to the Hatters as they practiced on the second floor of the bldg. on the corner. W/ the windows open in the practice hall, the music carried for blocks! Great times.
Nice to hear from you, Bill. Hatters Hall is burnt into my memory forever. I sometimes dream of going back there looking for my gold speckle Ludwig snare drum to bring to the start of the parade. (usually, in my dream, I never find it.
Thank you for your comment.
-Joe