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Middlesex County Volunteers

2005 Season

For the 2005 season, I have completely upgraded my camera equipment (spending far too much money in the process). My primary camera is now a Canon EOS 20D with several different lenses.

The links below will take you to the photo albums on MCV's web site. Links will not work for albums that have not been uploaded.

	20 March 2005 - Manchester, NH St. Patrick's Day Parade - Official Parade Web Site Satellite Map The forecast for the day called for clouds, cold, and a chance of snow. The reality was a perfectly clear sky and a fairly warm, though windy, day. The parade was short, straight, and slightly downhill. It was a fairly uneventful start to the 2005 parade season.
	17 April 2005 - Lincoln Fife and Drum Salute Satellite Map Like last year, there was an afternoon of fifes and drums at the Pierce house following a potluck lunch. This year, the UK's Corps of Drums Society was in town along with the 1st Michigan Colonial Fife and Drum Corps and several local groups.
	18 April 2005 - Concord Patriot's Day Parade Concord started off Patriot's Day with a parade through town, over the Old North Bridge, and back through town, where MCV and 1st Michigan merged and marched to a combined finish.
	18 April 2005 - Lexington Patriot's Day Parade Lexington started off with a large pre-parade gathering at a private residence. And then there was a parade, followed by an informal gathering with the Corps of Drums Society.
	29-30 April 2005 - William Diamond Muster Satellite Map This time around, MCV performed at the tattoo the night before the muster, which was fortunate because the rest of the weekend was a bit wet. I missed the parade in the morning, but I managed to show up for the somewhat damp performance on field.
	30 May 2005 - Andover Memorial Day Parade OK, so I missed one Memorial Day parade, but I still made it to Andover. Once around the block, and that was it for Memorial Day weekend. Well, for me that was it until Switzerland. Yeah, I skipped two more parades, but shouldn't I at least be able to have my birthday off? Not that I did last year, but still...
	18 June 2005 - Switzerland, Day 1: Zurich, Schaffhausen On the our first day in Switzerland, we eased into the Swiss experience. After a sleepless overnight flight, we started off by marching through the town of Schaffhausen, climbing the stairs up to Munot castle, and going through two performances before going back down the stairs and back to the hotel. At least we still had a few hours for sleep...
	19 June 2005 - Switzerland, Day 2: Aarau, Basel After some much-needed sleep, it was back on the bus to head to the first tattoo rehearsal in Basel, with a brief stop along the way for the Jodelfest parade.
	20 June 2005 - Switzerland, Day 3: Basel Sightseeing We had the entire morning off, and I skipped the rehearsal since there wouldn't have been much for me to do there. Instead, I wandered around Basel and took a few pictures. Of course, skipping the rehearsal almost cost me dinner, since nobody told me about the change in plans, but I still managed to find my way there...
	21 June 2005 - Switzerland, Day 4: Yshalle Tattoo Rehearsal After a rehearsal in street clothes, MCV was back in uniform for a more formal rehearsal.
	22 June 2005 - Switzerland, Day 5: Yshalle Tattoo Dress Rehearsal Due to technical difficulties I was unable to get any coverage of the finale rehearsal, but I got plenty of pictures of the dress rehearsal (MCV and finale only).
	23 June 2005 - Switzerland, Day 6: Yshalle Tattoo Opening Night I was shooting video this night, so there aren't many pictures. Sorry.
	24 June 2005 - Switzerland, Day 7: Yshalle Tattoo Night 2 I only shot video of Top Secret, MCV, and the finale, so there are pictures of everything else.
	25 June 2005 - Switzerland, Day 8: Yshalle Tattoo Parade and Night 3 First a parade up and down every street in Basel (or so it seemed), then the final tattoo performance. I was at floor level taking pictures for the entire performance.
	1 July 2005 - USS Bataan Satellite Map How do you get a fife and drum corps to the flight deck of a carrier? You load them onto the elevator of course. It was a foggy evening, which wasn't good for music but made the pictures rather interesting.
	2 July 2005 - Boston Harborfest: Roving Performances For one patriotic celebration, simply take one half fife and drum corps, add five scenic locations in a historic city, lather, rinse, repeat. Or something like that. The annual back-and-forth went pretty much the same as last year, with plenty of tourist photo ops.
	2 July 2005 - Boston Harborfest: Old City Hall Concert Satellite Map After a full day of walking around Boston, the perfect way to relax is, um, standing around for a couple more hours and having a concert. Right...
	4 July 2005 - Boston 4th of July Parade MCV wrapped up harborfest with the 4th of July parade. Can you tell where the horses were stopped during the reading of the Declaration of Independence? A short and crowded performance outside Faneuil Hall followed the parade. And then I skipped the second parade of the day. This is starting to become a habit...
	16 July 2005 - Deep River Ancient Muster Satellite Map - Parade Satellite Map - Muster No rain, no mud, no waiting - what's going on here? MCV managed to get spot number 9, so it was a short day. After some initial color guard issues, the day passed without any problems. Well, except losing the auction for spot number 9 at next year's muster...
	5 September 2005 - Marlborough Labor Day Parade Lots of spectators, lots of vendors, lots of debris in the road... What's not to like?
	18 September 2005 - Wilmington 275th Anniversary Parade Satellite Map Dark clouds loomed ominously overhead, and many, many Shriners walked, rode, or otherwise moved around everywhere, but the rain held off until a few minutes after we left.
	24 September 2005 - Sudbury Colonial Faire & Muster Muster Web Site Satellite Map Is it a bad omen when a sheep crosses your path at the start of a muster? Fortunately, only the schedule and the sheep's freedom suffered from that particular oddity. The sun was low in the sky by the time MCV went on stand, but two MCV members were able to go on a bit earlier, in slightly different uniforms.
	2 October 2005 - Medford 375th Anniversary Parade This time around they put the muskets ahead of MCV. The visual effect was pretty good, but we could have done without the smokescreen effect...
	30 October 2005 - Woburn Halloween Parade Ah, Woburn. The start was delayed, as we had to wait for every emergency vehicle in New England to get in line ahead of us. Next, we had to contend with people collecting money blocking the way ahead of us and parade organizers in utility carts almost running us down. Ah, Woburn...
	20 November 2005 - Haverhill Santa Parade MCV finished off the 2005 season at the annual Haverhill Santa parade. The weather was unseasonably warm, so the only issues were the crushed candy underfoot and the giant hill. The sun was at our backs for most of the parade, so there weren't many opportunities for pictures.

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