The 2024 DCI Tour now has its eyes set on the Texas stretch of the season. Home to eight events this season, the Lone Star State serves as the stage for some of the biggest mid-season matchups, competitively speaking.
Throughout the upcoming week, several corps will take the traditional trek to Texas via motor coach buses. One corps, however, is arriving in the state and the first major regional of the season in a different way— via plane.
After spending the entirety of its 2023 season along the East Coast — aside from a one-week midwest trip to the DCI World Championships — Jersey Surf will swoop into Texas for a quartet of events and will complete the rest of the 2024 Drum Corps International tour with their World Class colleagues. Saturday’s appearance in San Antonio will mark the first time since 2019 the New Jersey-based corps has taken the field inside the Alamodome.
“We’re excited to finally get on the road, get the show moving and join the tour,” said Rich Klimowicz, Jersey Surf operations director.
During the offseason, performers and members of the corps’ administrative staff met to begin planning for the 2024 season. In the midst of these conversations, one significant request was made.
The members wanted to go to Texas.
With this in mind, the staff began organizing its schedule for the season with the goal of capitalizing on its local resources and responsibly addressing fiscal and logistical challenges, while also giving the performers the competitive and touring experience they desired.
“If it was up to us (the admin and instructional staff), we perhaps would not have gone to Texas,” Klimowicz said, referring to the operational benefits of a pared-down schedule. “But this year’s decision to return to the Lone Star state was not made for ourselves – it was about the corps members. This is what the membership desired and is working toward.”
In order to execute this plan while accommodating the late-June school dismissal schedule common in the New Jersey, Virginia and New York markets from which the Jersey Surf primarily draws its membership, corps administrators and the Surf’s board of directors thoroughly examined multiple options. After considerable number-crunching and scheduling of volunteers, the corps determined that the least expensive, most logistically responsible and achievable option was for the members to fly to Dallas and begin the chartered bus portion of their tour from there.
The Surf retained the services of DCI partner Kaleidoscope Adventures to assist with managing major market group flights from the Newark and Philadelphia airports, and the Surf team helped to guide the members and staff in booking travel from some 18 different additional points of departure.
The corps set its arrival for Tuesday, July 16, two days prior to its appearance at DCI Waco presented by Ultimate Drill Book, in order for members to get accustomed to the weather and continue the refinement of the corps 2024 “Surfadelic” program which debuted last weekend.
Just like that, our first performance of the season is complete! Thanks for getting Surfadelic with us. See you in a couple days, Texas! #dci #dci2024 #drumcorps #jerseysurf
Posted by Jersey Surf World Class Drum Corps on Saturday, July 13, 2024
The short break also afforded performers a brief period of rest, with two completely empty days nestled between Surf’s July 13 performance in Clifton, New Jersey and its Texas travel day. During this window, members had the opportunity to return home and recharge however they saw fit.
As Klimowicz noted, Surf has seen the benefits of a midseason break in previous years.
“In many ways, the Texas tour is a really interesting drum corps rite of passage,” Klimowicz said. “However, in times that we weren’t there, we realized that the members had a bit more juice at the end of the season, resulting in a more enjoyable experience for everyone.”
The work it took to craft this specific travel experience did not go unnoticed by the members. Jersey Surf drum major Hannah Miller is personally excited to not only return to the Alamodome on Saturday, but to perform alongside other World Class competitors.
“The corps in general is just so excited to be face-to-face with other World Class corps this early in the season,” Miller said. “Last season, we didn’t get that until the end of July, so it’s going to be really hype and set us up for the rest of the season.”
View Jersey Surf's 2024 Tour Schedule