The year was 1937. A group of business men gathered at the University of Wisconsin Stock Pavilion to view a performance by the Racine Scouts Drum & Bugle Corps. Impressed and entertained, the men brought back to Madison what they saw and heard. Months later, on February 8, 1938, The Madison Scouts Drum & Bugle Corps was born.

Forging past its humble beginnings, the Madison Scouts has established itself as a premier youth performing arts organization on the modern drum and bugle corps scene. “Proud, Loud and Pleasing the Crowd”–an unofficial mantra of the corps–the Scouts are known for their entertainment-focused programs that consistently bring audiences to their feet.

Today’s corps boasts 150 performing members selected from an audition process that spans the course of several months. Maintaining a diverse membership, performers join the corps from across the globe each year. The 2014 membership of the Madison Scouts represents countries as far away as Japan as wells as 41 of the Continental United States.