Don’t plan on driving up Main Street in Deep River on Saturday, July 20 because the roads will close at 10:30 a.m. and up to 80 fife and drum corps will take over the streets as they begin marching at 11 a.m. for the annual Deep River Ancient Muster.

Deep River’s Ancient Muster rolls out over two days, beginning Friday, July 20 with the tattoo starting at 7 p.m. at Devitt’s Field and ending with the parade and then muster (a competition of the participating corps) that will take place on Main Street, Deep River Congregational Church, The Stone House, Deep River Hardware, Deep River Public Library, and Route 80, as well as back at Devitt’s, the following Saturday.

The event is hosted both by the Deep River Ancient Muster Committee and the Deep River Drum Corps and has been an annual event since May 13, 1879. In years following, the Deep River Ancient Muster has always taken place on the third Saturday of July.

The Deep River Ancient Muster is both the oldest and largest group of fife and drum members in the world and this weekend, once again, drum beats and fife playing will take over the town of Deep River for this weekend long event.

The tattoo, at which the different corps get a chance to show their latest and greatest routines, gathers on Friday at Devitt’s Field. After a long night of performances and revelry, the parade begins at the corner of Main and Kirtland streets at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

At the post-parade muster, once everyone has reconvened at Devitt’s Field, each participating corps will perform a few songs each that will then be judged and awards will be presented. While there is some competition at this point in the day, overall the Deep River Ancient Muster is full of camaraderie and non-competition.

For example, some of the awards given out will go toward the group that traveled the furthest or has the most participants.

Fife and drum corps from around the world come to experience Deep River’s Ancient Muster. This year, some of those corps include the Civil War Troopers from Cornwall, New York, the 1st Delaware Regiment Fife and Drum Corps from Wilmington, Delaware, and Monumental City Ancient Fife and Drum Corps from Baltimore, Maryland, among many others.

The full list of corps participating this year will be posted at Devitt’s Field in order of the muster line-up or the alphabetical list of participants can be found online at dram.fifedrum.org.

For more information, email drancientmuster@gmail.com or visit their Facebook page.