Marine Parade at 8th & I

Every Friday night in the summer the Marines put on a show at the oldest post of the corps. I first heard of the parade through my cousin-in-law's cousin-in-law who plays drums in the drum and bugle corps. The show is free, but when I went to request tickets, the first tickets available were several months out, which turned out to be last Friday night.

A friend and I arrived at the gates around 7:40 and after getting my bag checked and going through a metal detector we were seated in the (padded) bleachers. My tickets said we had to be there by 7:45, but I didn't realize the show didn't start till 8:45. Luckily the sent a few marines out to entertain us. They answered questions and gave us an overview of how the show would proceed.

the marine barracks and flag with 15 stars & stripes

They also gave us a little history. The flag flying only had 15 stars & stripes because that was the US flag when the barracks were built (Kentucky was the 15th state).

commandant's house

 The show started with the President's own marine band. They played a few songs and marched about.

Then the drum and bugle corps joined them and they marched together.

marching through each other

After awhile the Alpha and Bravo companies marched out. The Alpha company contains the silent drill team and the color guard while the Bravo company contains the body bearer section. They did a few gun twirls and then the silent drill team put on a pretty cool routine.

The show concluded with a bugler playing taps from atop the barracks. I recommend checking out the show. It seemed a little long (concluded at 10:15), but that may have been because I didn't eat dinner before hand.