A century after it began, the Central High School Kilties Drum & Bugle Corps is as strong as ever. They’re celebrating their 100th anniversary with a full weekend of events April 10-12.
At 6:30 Friday morning, as they are most mornings, the Kilties were hard at work in The Pitt at Central, practicing for the many performances they give every year.
Kilties Sponsor Sunday Wildschuetz said being a Kiltie takes a strong work ethic and a commitment to the group.
"I feel I probably have these — see these children more than their parents do. We practice four days a week from 6:30 to 7:30," she said. "We have a performance usually every weekend, if not multiple. We also are at football games, basketball games, community basketball. We do, like, MSU. We'll do Drury, People all around, you know, every fall festival they want us. Every Christmas parade they want us. We travel all over. We've been to Kansas City for the Saint Patrick's Day. So even on our breaks, like we'll do the 4th of July parade, so in the middle of July, everyone else is off. We're not. Christmas. Parade starts on Thanksgiving weekend, so we're never at home with our families. We are somewhere."
She describes the Kilties as “a sisterhood.” Once a Kiltie, always a Kiltie.
"The sisterhood is amazing and it's very multi-layered. There's the sisterhood that we've all been through the same things, the morning practices, the drum bruise on your leg. The, you know, just out in the heat, out in the cold," said Wildschuetz. "But also there's it's been moms and daughters and sisters and cousins and aunts. For example, my daughter is on the court right now, and I was a Kiltie. I have two sets of sisters. I now have Kilties I had, I sponsored in the past, I now have their daughters."
The Kilties must learn multiple skills. There’s the iconic Kilties dance. There are bagpipers, twirlers, buglers and drummers.
It’s a proud tradition. The Kilties are the oldest female, uniformed, Scottish Drum & Bugle Corps in the United States.
WildSchuetz said it was Richie Robinson founder of the Springfield Public Schools band program and leader of the largest Boy Scout Band in the U.S., who started the Kilties.
"He was rich in the music in Springfield. And he realized as a girl dad that there was nothing for girls to do in 1926," she said. "So, they weren't allowed to be in sports. They weren't even in music, so he decided he was going to set up an all-girls drum and bugle corps. His background, and he was Scottish, so he went with the Scottish uniform."
Central Senior Malea Johnson is the majorette for this year’s Kilties and has been in the group all four years of high school. For Johnson, it’s a family tradition.
"I've kind of known about it my whole life" she said. "I first got introduced, like, when I was, I was like four, and my sister was in the Kilties and so I like went to a lot of parades and stuff. And ever since then, I loved it. Lots of my family have been Kilties, like my sisters and my aunts and cousins."
She said it’s a blessing to be able to carry on that tradition.
Alyssa Kurth is the assistant majorette for the Kilties and joined her sophomore year after seeing the group perform at a basketball game. For her, like for Johnson, it’s all about bringing joy to other people.
"Seeing the joy that other people get from watching us. And, like, even like in The Pitt where we are right now, like seeing everybody because it gets so loud in here in the drums, we have a great beat that's going. So, everyone — like seeing everybody in the stands always just like bumping with it. It's really, it's really cool to watch," she said. "And then also with the parades, like seeing all the little kids dance with us and like flick their hands like they're trying to drum. It's just, it's really cool to see."
Wildschuetz is proud to be the head sponsor of a group with such a rich history in Springfield, and she enjoys bringing a unique style of entertainment to a community that she said loves the group. But there’s one thing she enjoys most.
"I really love helping build strong independent women who are going to go on to do great things," she said, "because I will get them, and they're shy little girls and then they leave where they are very independent, who will go out because we, we're in the public. I'm like, you smile, you make eye contact, we do all those things. And my Kilties can do that."
The Kilties have invited anyone who’s been involved with the group to help them celebrate. And Wildschuetz said the weekend’s activities are open to anyone. The corps will kick off their 100th anniversary celebration with a history walk Friday night. They’ll host a pancake breakfast Saturday morning from 8 to 10 at the Elks Lodge on E. Bennett followed by a ceremony in honor of Ritchie Robinson at his grave site at Greenlawn Cemetery. They’ll present traditional dances at Central afterwards. Former kilties will be able to play the drums again, twirl or remember what it was like to be a majorette. And the Kilties will perform on Park Central Square Sunday at 2 – the site of their first performance. The weekend will end with a reception at Central at 3.
