More than 4600 pounds of food was collected and $62,500 was raised for charity, which was $17,000 more than last year! The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation will get nearly $39,000 to purchase musical instruments for deserving children in Big Beat cities and the remaining $23,500 will go to children’s organizations and food pantries in various Big Beat areas.

Each location had a variety of fun events throughout the day, from demonstrations by Taiko drummers, to drum corps groups to percussion ensembles and some had guest appearances by major-name drummers like Jimmy Chamberlin, Ray Luzier, Herman Matthews, Jason McGerr, Russ Miller and Derek Roddy, among others.

But, the highlight of the day was when all 1202 drummers in the 11 cities played the same groove at the same time, a feat that was achieved through a video internet connection, with the director in each city following the conductor in Seattle.

The 11 participating Five-Star shops were:

• Buffalo Drum Outlet - Buffalo, NY
  
• Columbus Percussion - Columbus, OH
  
• Donn Bennett Drum Studio - Seattle, WA
  
• Drum Headquarters - St. Louis, MO
  
• Drum World - Tulsa, OK
  
• Just Drums - Toronto, ON
  
• Lemmon Percussion - San Jose, CA
  
• The Percussion Center - Houston, TX
  
• Resurrection Drums - Hollywood, FL
  
• Skins-n-Tins - Champaign, IL
  
• Stebal Drums - Cleveland, OH

Additionally, the generosity of the top percussion vendors listed below under \'brand links\' enabled each location to give away $16,000 worth of drum gear to participants.