FAIRFIELD - From his designated volunteer post in the parking lots of Fairfield Stadium, Rick Merritt said he could hear and feel the booming excitement of the Summer Music Games.

        Mr. Merritt, 48, of Fairfield, was among more than a hundred volunteers who helped make Saturday's Drum and Bugle Corps Extravaganza run smoothly. While Mr. Merritt worked the lots, other volunteers - mostly band parents from Fairfield High School - spent the day working concessions, selling tickets and chaperoning the six competing bands.

        The competing drum corps converged on Greater Cincinnati from Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey and South Carolina to do battle in the third contest at Fairfield Stadium, and the 18th contest sponsored by the Tempo Club, Fairfield's music booster program.

        In addition to the competition, Cincinnati Tradition, a local drum and bugle corps performed Saturday.

        “The amount of sound coming to the stands is hard to beat,” said Mr. Merritt, who has volunteered for the contest for the past six years.

        The six traveling drum corps came equipped with more than 20 semi-trailers, which carry equipment and food from city to city during a summer of competition.

        The corps, which compete in more than 100 events in 39 states and two Canadian provinces, each are composed of about 135 members under 21 years old.

        “When they aren't on the bus, they are practicing,” Mr. Merritt said.

        The next competition in the International Championship is Aug. 5-10 in Madison, Wis.

        In each city, the corps rely on large groups of volunteers to take care of details such as housing and organizing the event. The Fairfield competition took a full year of planning and about 5,000 volunteer hours, according to Bruce Brown the contest director.

        “We've been out here since 6 a.m.,” said Mr. Brown, leading a troupe of early arriving volunteers around 10 a.m.. “There's an amount of pride in this show that has come from years.”

        His daughter, Heidi, a 16-year-old band student at Fairfield High, was among the volunteers.

        “I get to meet a lot of people,” she said, while looking forward to watching the three-hour show later in the day.

        Other Fairfield band parents, such as Willie Frazer, 53, arrived early to take part in the “heavy lifting” that goes into making the event successful.

        “I'm doing whatever needs to be done to make the show go off smoothly,” he said.

        “We love the music, and bringing something to the area that a lot of people like.”

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