| Special to the Enquirer

The Falkville High School band hosted the Pacific Crest Drum Corps, one of 24 national world-class corps, July 24-25 before they competed in the Southeastern Championships Saturday.

The 156 member corps travels with 20-25 coaches and a crew of more than 15 drivers, cooks and medical assistants. All the performers and crew members rehearsed, ate and slept at FHS after arriving Thursday morning around 2 a.m.

The Pacific Crest Drum Corps tours the nation each summer during the competition season. They stay at host high schools and colleges around the country while on their two-month roadtrip to 25 performances.

This was the second year Falkville has hosted the Pacific Coast Drum Corps. Other schools in the area hosted different corps, including the Spirit of Atlanta Drum and Bugle Corps at Brewer High School and the Colts Drum and Bugle Corps at Danville High School.

Pacific Crest is based out of Diamond Bar in Southern California. Stuart Pompel is the executive director of the band with Edward Martin as the operations manager in charge of the tour.

Pompel said the corps focuses on excellence, education and experience.

“At Pacific Crest we want to inspire young performers to do their best,” Pompel said. “We make sure we provide excellence in our performances to show others what can be achieved. We also try to educate the young ones in how they can reach our level of competition. We show them that experience and education are the keys to excellence.”

The corps is made up of about 45 percent high school students and about 55 percent college students, with the average age being 18. The corps is touring in its 22^nd season since it was established in 1993.

The Falkville High School band members were able to watch a practice performance of the Pacific Crest show Thursday evening. Falkville held music camp last week and is currently holding marching camp this week under the direction of Bradley Phillips.