Temperatures again climbed into the triple digits keeping many inside or finding some way to stay cool, but members of Bakersfield’s Golden Empire drum and bugle corps say they just embrace the heat and keep going.
“I remember our first week doing this, it reached 110, so it's kind of difficult handling the heat. But since most of us are actually ‘Bakersfieldians’, it's a little easier for us to deal with the heat,” said Golden Empire Drum Major Aaron Aragon.
Today in Bakersfield temperatures climbed to as high as one hundred six degrees but if you passed by Bakersfield College, you would have seen and heard members of the Golden Empire drum corps pushing themselves to the limit forgetting how hot it actually was.
“Being from Bakersfield, it's just a reality that we have to deal with. You know we have to do a lot more prep in terms of being ready for the heat and hydrating and treating our bodies correctly and doing everything we can to prepare for that,” said Corps Director Tim Heasley.
But Bakersfield native Amber Larroque says something in her mind changes when she performs, no matter if it's a practice or a performance like tonight.
“Performing isn't really as stressful on me because I love it so much. So really just like I've learned to love the heat and love how much I'm sweating and tired and sore,” said Larroque.
For an activity that has its members practicing during the hottest times of day for hours at a time, the major necessities become stressed even more.
Water and sunscreen.
“Probably a gallon and a half and that's just me, I don't even drink a lot of water,” said Larroque.
“Well I could go through a whole can of sunscreen in a week and I could drink about two gallons at least every day at least at the minimum. And I'm pretty sure if you talk to any member in our corps, same exact thing,” said Aragon.
As the season for Golden Empire comes to a close this weekend in Southern California, Larroque says she has enjoyed everything about marching and wouldn't trade anything about it - not even the heat.
“It's definitely one of the most difficult things and fun things that I could have ever done and I've learned so many things just from being in this activity and I'm really happy I did it,” said Larroque.
At the time of Golden Empire’s performance temperatures were still being reported at more than 90 degrees but if you were watching, you would have never known.
