Baker Elks Volunteers Work to Revive Youth Drum and Bugle Corps

Judy Head remembers the sweat-soaked shirts. She remembers the crowds going quiet, then weeping, as the Baker Elks Drum and Bugle Corps played "Amazing Grace" and "America" at events across Oregon and beyond. She joined the corps in 1978, played bugle under director Roger Welter until 1990, and spent more than a decade watching Baker City audiences brought to tears by a group of local musicians who had started rehearsing together in the early 1950s.

Now Head and Jerry Endicott of Baker Elks Lodge No. 338 want to build that again, from scratch, with a new generation of Baker City kids. They are hosting a public open house on April 17 at 6 p.m. at the Elks Lodge, 1896 Second St., to gauge community interest in restarting a youth drum and bugle corps.

The revival comes weeks after the death of Roger Welter, the local contractor and longtime corps director who was instrumental in keeping the group active for decades. Welter died March 14 at age 79. Under his direction, the Baker Elks Drum and Bugle Corps performed across the state and traveled to the 1990 Elks national convention in Las Vegas. The corps also performed at the 2024 celebration of life for Chuck Mawhinney, the renowned Baker City-born Marine Corps sniper and former corps member who died in February of that year. The group's most recent public performance was in October at the Baker Heritage Museum during its monthly speaker series.

Endicott said the corps has been largely inactive since the pandemic. He and Head have already talked with Baker School District officials, including superintendent Casey Hallgarth, who expressed support for the concept. "We're trying to set the groundwork," Endicott said.

The long-term goal is straightforward: recruit teenagers who will grow into the adult musicians who sustain the tradition. Endicott acknowledged that today's youth face a more crowded schedule of organized activities than their counterparts did when the corps first formed in the early 1950s, but said he believes the appetite is still there. The Elks Lodge is also looking for adults willing to step up as leaders for the new youth corps.

Anyone interested in participating, volunteering as a leader, or learning more about the revival can attend the April 17 open house at the lodge on Second Street.