Drum corps season is not over yet, with the Drum Corps Associates (DCA) World Championships set to take place over Labor Day Weekend in Rochester, New York.

Returning to its familiar home at Rochester Rhinos Stadium, 19 all-age drum and bugle corps from across the country will compete in a series of events scheduled Friday, September 2 through Sunday, September 4.

Great tickets for all three days of DCA World Championship events are still available.

Schedule of Events


Cincinnati Tradition

Individual/Ensemble & Mini Corps Competition
Friday, September 2, 5 p.m. ET
Individuals and ensembles take the stage in this event that takes on a party-like atmosphere at the Rochester Convention Center

DCA World Championship Prelims
Saturday, September 3, 2 p.m. ET
Preliminary performances at Rochester Rhinos Stadium

Alumni Spectacular
Sunday, September 4, 10 a.m. ET
Field performances by alumni corps at Rochester Rhinos Stadium

DCA World Championship Finals
Sunday, September 4, 5 p.m. ET
Advancing corps after Saturday's Prelims square off for the Championship title at Rochester Rhinos Stadium

What to Watch


Atlanta CV

2016 will mark the penultimate DCA World Championship in Rochester, N.Y. where the event has been held 17 other times over more than 50 years. DCA recently announced that it will take its championship events to Williamsport, Pennsylvania in 2018 and 2019.

As the reigning DCA Champions, the Reading (Pennsylvania) Buccaneers will surely be the corps to beat on Sunday. After taking second place in 2011, the Pennsylvania corps has since put together four straight championship titles from 2012 to 2015. A win in 2016 would put the Bucs within a year of tying their own record for most consecutive titles (six between 2005 and 2010).

In the last decade, the Hawthorne (New Jersey) Caballeros and Minnesota Brass have been the only two corps that have managed to finish ahead of the Buccaneers, both last doing so during the DCA Championship Preliminaries in 2014. The Cabs have been behind the Bucs so far this season, but Rochester will be the first time drum corps fans will be able to see how Minnesota Brass stacks up against the all-age East Coast powerhouses.

Once a newcomer to Drum Corps Associates competitions, Cadets2 has made a name for itself over the last four years as a weekend-only regionally touring program of Youth Education in the Arts, the parent organization of Drum Corps International’s Cadets. Catapulting into second place at 2015’s DCA Open Class Finals after three straight fifth-place finishes, Cadets2 could be primed to pull off an upset this weekend.

Look for competition to be tight among the groups of DCA’s Class A, a division that typically features smaller corps. With Minnesota’s Govenaires, a group that took home the Class A title in 2015 (and three others in 2006, 2009 and 2011) moving up to the Open Class division this year, the door will be wide open for a new Class A champion in 2016.