The one-time Allentown Cadets Drum Corps appears headed toward sounding its final notes.
The Erie-based Cadets Arts & Entertainment nonprofit, which fields an internationally renowned drum corps, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the organization said this week in a news release.
The legal move provides for the sale of a company’s assets to pay creditors, and usually leads to liquidation.
“Unfortunately, the necessity of Chapter 7 bankruptcy means that The Cadets will never return to the marching arts competition field again,” CAE directors said in the release.
Vicki Ferrence Ray of Allentown, the group’s former executive director, who resigned in October, said in a social media post the Cadets were a “labor of love.”
“I would say the Cadets were a life-changing experience,” she said Thursday of her time when she played in the percussion section more than 30 years ago to eventually becoming its leader. “I am beyond heartbroken.”
Six years ago, she was part of a new board that formed after longtime corps director George Hopkins resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations made by nine women.
Now, the group blames “unknown and crippling financial strain” of defending a sexual abuse lawsuit filed against the Cadets and others as a prime factor in the bankruptcy, according to the statement. The lawsuit was filed by a woman who alleges she was sexually abused by an instructor in 1982 and ’83 while with the Garfield Cadets, as the drum corps was known when based in New Jersey before coming to Allentown. The lawsuit was filed Sept. 1, 2020, in Bergen County Superior Court of New Jersey.
Cadets Arts & Entertainment has denied the allegations but was unable to resolve the lawsuit, and its insurance carrier denied coverage to fund defense costs or a monetary judgment against the organization, according to a report from the Erie Times-News that was confirmed by Ferrence Ray. Member fees and donations were not used to pay legal costs.
The Cadets’ assets are valued at between $100,001 and $500,000, according to a petition filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. A company in Chapter 7 proceedings can continue to operate under the direction of a court trustee until a matter is settled, and if it can settle with creditors in the interim, it might not have to be liquidated.
The drum corps, which was founded in 1934 in New Jersey, won 10 Drum Corps International world championships since 1983. The Cadets last year included young musicians from more than 20 states and three foreign countries.
The Cadets moved to Erie last year after being in Allentown for approximately the last two decades. The group announced in October that the drum corps would not compete this year due to unmet fundraising goals.
The Cadets for years performed in the Drum Corps International Eastern Classic at J. Birney Crum Stadium in Allentown. The show is scheduled for Aug. 2-3 this year, according to its website, dci.org.
DCI East was suspended in 2020 and was a noncompetitive show the next year before returning in full in 2022.
Morning Call reporter Anthony Salamone can be reached at asalamone@mcall.com.
