U.S. Children's Marching Groups: Baton Marchers


Figure 1.--Here we see a boys baton marching group from North Port, Michigan. You can see the batons that the boys are holding. At the ends one boy olds a flag and the other a drum. The boys wear destinctive uniforms and caps. I'm not sure about the color, but I think they were probably blue. This was a CYKO photo postcard and the 1907 dates confirms our postcard date range. Put your cirsor on the image to see the rest of the group.

Associated with marching bands are baton groups. They are not necesarily a musical group. althouh they might have a drummer or trumpeter with them to help set a beat. We are not sure that the U.S. band page is the best place to link these groups, but we can think of a better place at this time. They would have participated in parades along with marching bands. The earliest baton groups we have noted were boys' groups. We have no knformation on the historical origins of these groups. Gradually baton marching groups became more of a girls' activity, we think because sports activities were for some time limited. We are entirely sure of the time line. As far as we know, by the time of World War II (1939-45), we only see girl groups. The actual activity or sport is called baton twirling. It is not just an American activity, although it seems most popular in America. The World Baton Twirling Federation was organized (1977). It organizes world championships. I don't think that in other countries that baton twirling has become so gender specific.








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Created: 12:25 AM 10/27/2008
Last updated: 12:25 AM 10/27/2008