84th Bucktail Regiment

Bucktail Regiment Drum & Bugle Corps was organized in the summer of 1963. Its immediate goal was to see if there was enough interest in operating a corps in a small community. The meetings were held on the third floor of the Community Center located in the heart of the business district. After several meetings it was decided to start raising money to purchase used equipment. The goal at this time was to obtain instruments and rehearse for the borough of Emporium's Centennial parade in 1964. Emporium at one time had a town band. When it disbanded there was a small sum of money that was placed in the local bank. This money, after negotiations with some of the former town band members, was transferred to the new drum corps. This money along with a bank loan and other contributions provided us with the money to purchase necessary drums and bugles from Truman Crawford of "Yankee Rebel" fame. An interesting side note in regards to obtaining the musical instruments is as follows: After waiting for over two weeks to receive the instruments that had been shipped a search was requested in regards to the status of the equipment. The U.S. Post Office traced the sent equipment to Emporia, KS. Within less than a week the equipment finally arrived in Emporium. The two men who spearheaded this organization from its start to its demise in 1978 was the late Joseph Noto and Robert Olivett. The two men ran the corps as co business managers.

The corps succeeded in meeting its goal and made its debut by participating in the huge Emporium Centennial Parade in the summer of 1964. Although small in number at first, the corps slowly grew in size and fame throughout NWPA and SWNY. The corps eventually owned its own equipment truck and building for rehearsals. Equipment and uniforms ran in excess of $50,000. For a small community like Emporium this almost seemed like "Mission Impossible.