Columbians

Columbians is an Open Class junior field competition corps based in Pasco, Washington.

Dan Perry and Shawn Anderson were trying to start a new drum corps in the Vancouver, Washington area when they contacted Derek Munson about developing a website for the corps. He encouraged them to consider the Tri-Cities, Washington area instead and urged them to contact the Pasco High School band director, Russ Newbury, who had been a music arranger for the Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps of Denver.

After settling on the Tri-Cities, the group decided to name the new corps after a former area corps, the Tri-City Columbians, who had been active from 1955 thru 1975. With assistance and a donation of some used istruments from the Northwest Youth Music Association (sponsors of the Cascades Drum and Bugle Corps of Seattle), the Columbians Drum and Bugle Corps was founded on November 20, 2012. The corps' name refers to the Columbia River, which flows through the Tri-Cities, and the corps' inaugural season show was entitled, "A River Runs Through It."

The organization has the goals of 1) keeping expenses low to allow the corps to survive into the future and 2) providing the members with the enjoyment of the the drum corps experience at a reasonable cost and to still have a summer vacation. Thus, the Columbians march only a short, regional tour. Only four shows were scheduled in the first few years, and there have been no more than six since. The corps' longest trip has been to end the season at Drums Along the Rockies in Denver in both 2016 and 2017.

[Friends of the Columbians; Drum Corps International]