This past weekend Indianapolis hosted the Drum Corps International World Championship at Lucas Oil Stadium and my views of Drum Corps and marching music will forever be altered. (Notice how I didn't say marching band? Bands have woodwinds, Drum Corps do not. You say "marching band" in front of drum corps fans and you will be corrected.)People traveled from all over the nation to downtown Indianapolis, some even spent all afternoon in darkened movie theaters in various cities across the country to watch dozens of hours of coverage of this end of season spectacular. Lucas Oil Stadium proved to be perfectly suited for hosting DCI and I can only imagine will continue to grow each subsequent year.

(Oh yes, they already announced that tickets are available for next year.)

As far as the people who went with me, my daughter lasted for a couple of hours, the color guard lines and flags were pretty enthralling to her, although she did want to know when the football players were coming out.

My husband would have stayed longer but the little kid was getting restless (we had spent the day swimming,) besides, he would have liked football players to come out too.

Now I truly believe the best way to enjoy a DCI show is to find a friend who grew up participating in similar events. This was my neighbor. Sitting next to her made it even more fun. What's even better? When I mentioned on my own personal blog that I had gone to the DCI semifinals dozens of my readers came out of the band geek woodwork.

I can promise you that you too have an undercover band geek friend.

This is serious stuff people.

It's amazing to me what fantastic events Indianapolis events there are, especially around this time of year. Almost everyone has been here for a conference, or knows of some annual gathering here. If you have one coming up (Gen Con? FHA? DCI? Indy 500? State Fair? IBE? Circle City Classic?) you should really consider turning your reason for coming here into an excuse for an Indianapolis vacation.