Brian Hagberg
SHEFFIELD, Pa. – For the first time since 2019, the sounds of drum and bugle corps will fill the air on Wolverine Mountain Friday night.
The annual Sheffield Music on the Mountain returns to the Sheffield High School football field on Friday, July 29 after a 2-year hiatus due to COVID. The event brings Open Class Drum Corps International groups to Sheffield for an evening of musical performance.
“Some of the comments we’ve had on Facebook and stuff a lot of people say they’re happy to hear it back,” Sheffield Music Boosters Chairman Art Lane said. “I know a lot of residents in Sheffield are happy to have it back and a lot of those residents, as of last night, they can hear the Spartans practicing.”
The Spartans are one of the four corps, along with the Raiders, Legends, and Southwind who will be on the field Friday evening. Since this is DCI’s first season back post-COVID, Lane said some of the regimens that had been at SMOTM in the past didn’t want to travel too far from their hometowns this year.
“Some of the regimens that have come before they’re going through some reconstruction process. And they didn’t want to travel too far from their area for the first year, which I understand,” Lane said. “So next year, we’re hoping to get back to five or six groups.”
Music on the Mountain had been growing in popularity in each of its first five years, culminating with a peak in 2019. Lane hopes two years away hasn’t stalled people’s enthusiasm for the event.
“Our best year was 2019, we probably sold close to 900 seats,” Lane said. “Hopefully, Friday night’s crowd would be back to where we were in 2019. I do expect some nice crowds.”
Lane, who helped create Music on the Mountain in 2015, said Friday will serve as a litmus test for whether the event continues beyond 2022.
“This is really a test year for us to see whether we will continue,” Lane said. “The plan is to continue. But that’s all going to be based on what happens Friday night. The weather’s gonna be good it looks like, so I don’t think that’s gonna be an issue. But as long as we get the people back we plan on coming back in 2023.”
Though Lane said getting back into the routine of planning Music on the Mountain was fairly easy, including getting “probably 90 percent” of the sponsors back on board, there was one area that was a struggle this year.
“This year our biggest struggle was trying to find buildings to put corps in because of COVID,” Lane said. “And because a lot of schools are going through construction projects. So it was a tough year trying to find buildings. I mean, we didn’t have our last building confirmed until last week. We usually had that done months in advance. Other than that, we know the routine, we just had to go through the motions.”
The four regimens are spread out across Warren, Forest, and McKean Counties with one group staying in Sheffield, one in Tidioute, another in Marienville, and one in Kane. Each town gets a bit of a business boost from the regimens as well.
“The businesses probably see a little bit of pickup,” Lane said. “The community does gain a little bit of interaction with them as far as being out doing other things. They just don’t stay at the school. The kids pretty much do. But adult staff usually will venture out.”
Gates will open at 4:30 p.m. with the performances scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. A free shuttle will be provided, beginning at 4:30 p.m., from St. Anthony’s Church/St. Paul’s Center on Route 6 just west of Sheffield HS.
“That’s something we really encourage because it just keeps less traffic out of the school area,” Lane said. “And it gets pretty congested when you have cars with semis and equipment up there.”
Presale tickets are available online at this link, or at Crone’s Gifts & Medical Supplies in Warren and Peterson Hardware and Sheffield Pharmacy in Sheffield. Tickets will also be available at the gate beginning at 4:30 p.m. Friday.
Lane said all presale locations will be closed by noon on Friday. Anyone wishing to purchase tickets after noon on Friday will have to do so at the gate.
“We always worry about ticket sales, but ticket sales have been pretty good presale,” Lane said. “And the day of the event we usually sell a lot. I don’t think we’re having a problem selling seats.”
