Alumni support and participation is an important part of the continuing success of the Lancer organization. Your financial support as well as your support along the many parade routes has been fantastic. Thank you!! The parent board is continuing to build a mailing list of those alums who would like to stay informed of Lancer activities throughout the year, with the ultimate goal of starting a new alumni newsletter. Because many former Lancer members may have moved, or are not in the database, you can ensure being informed of Lancer activities by providing your current name and address.

If you would like to add, change, or delete your name from the current alumni database, please contact Teresa Anderson at the address below, or by e-mail.

Teresa Anderson
PO Box 78
Eagle Lake, MN 56024

Benefit For Randy Hansen on July 11

The 31st Edition Lancers will be performing this benefit at 3:00 pm, and all Lancer alumni and Lancer supporters are invited to help donate bake sale or silent auction items. For more information, contact Lancer alum Laura Heinze.

Benefit Poster

Mark your calendars:

Event: A Benefit for Randy Hansen "Come visit with Randy and see his progress!"
When: Saturday, July 11, 2-6 pm
Where: Dakota Meadows Middle School
Host: Tim & Laura Heinze, Kim Heinze & Annette Siebens
More information can also be found at Facebook.

Visit the CaringBridge site set up for Randy for updates at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/randyhansen.

Alumni Reunion Creates Memory Magic

A few veteran members of the 30th Edition joined in with the alums as they resurrected past favorite arrangements including The Cowboys, Battle Hymn of the Republic, The Mission and much more. At the Friday evening dinner the group visited with Lancer founder, Mark Sivanich (and his lovely wife), who created the vision for the local summer marching band back in 1978, and founding director, Edwin Stock, and current director Tedd Gullickson, who worked with the band as they prepared their performance. Also visiting from Traverse City, Michigan was Bill Engle, one of the Lancers' biggest out-of-state supporters who has also hosted the band on tours to the Cherry Festival.

Lively discussions took place at the open house and dinner, as old memories were relived, especially as the group debated the "first" actual uniform, which several seemed to have remembered different versions of. We do know this much... the first edition marched in black pants and white shirts. We discovered that the first pants were actually heavy wool, furnished by MSU (through music professor and supporter Clayton Tiede), and during the course of the first season, the uniform evolved to include pants from East High, and hats and plumes from West High, but the students wore their own white shirts. Another little known fact was that the original rehearsal space was supposed to be at West High School, but there wasn't an adequate street area to march, so Mankato State University was chosen as the first Lancer complex. Later on it was moved to East High School, and eventually to Dakota Meadows Middle in 1995.

For the celebration, the cafeteria area of the Lancer Complex at Dakota Meadows was stocked with Lancer memorabilia, scrap books, photos, old uniforms, flags, banners, newspaper articles, and more. Each registering member received a special memory book with updates on the alums and Lancer Lore. The alums also got to see all the hardware earned from the current season's winnings, which includes a record SIX GRAND CHAMPION TROPHIES! Quite an impressive haul from the current Lancers who continue to live the legend.

On Saturday morning, after a breakfast with the 30th Edition, Mr. Stock warmed up the musicians, and all Lancers past and present gave a joint concert in Spring Lake Park, which brought tears to the eyes of the many present. Both bands anchored the Fun Days parade with the 30th Edition at the beginning, and the Alumni Band at the end. The cheers from the sidelines echoed it all -- what a fantastic performance! What a fabulous weekend!

We will continue to post pictures and memories from the reunion on this site. We hope to have a collection of high resolution photos, including the group photo, available with KodakGallery.com very soon, so be sure to check back for more information when that becomes available. Committee co-chairs Teresa Anderson and Cindy Shirk would like to thank all those persons who helped to make this reunion a special event for the Lancer alumni.

Online Alumni Directory Continually updated

In addition to the main Lancer database (above) and All-Time Roster, we also have an online Alumni Directory. This page has been provided to keep past Lancers connected and is regularly updated.

If you would like to add your address to the directory, please send an e-mail to the webmaster. Pass the word on to other alums.

Include the following information:

• Current name
  
• Name while a Lancer (if different)
  
• Current e-mail address
  
• Current mailing address
  
• Current phone number
  
• Position in Lancers (ex. Trombone, Flag, American Squad, etc)
  
• Years in Lancers (ex. 1994, 1995, etc.)
  

Alumni Photos For Website

Alumni, we are always looking for past Lancer photos for our Memories page on this website. If you would like to share your pics, pleasesend them in digital format to the webmaster.

Lancer Ornaments and Souvenirs

Perfect memento for alumns! Purchase your Lancer ornaments now by contacting Dave Coughlan by email or phone 507-387-6242. Available for $6.00 each, or 2 / $10.00. Lancer ornaments make great keepsakes!