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Every Wednesday evening under the stars for the last 91 years, this musical group has kept time with the summer season, entertaining scores of Boone generations and enriching the quality of life with the sound of music.
Lowell Davis is a knowledgeable member of the band, which started its season the last week of May.
"We play on Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m. in the summer at the Herman Park Pavilion," he said. "You can expect to hear around eight different musical pieces each week," in addition to the standard opening "Star Spangled Banner" and closing "America" the Beautiful."
The evening just wouldn't be complete without an ice cream social, featuring cake, pie and ice cream. These duties are handled by a different church groups each week.
There's no Paula Abdul or Randy Jackson to critique, only good times and quality sounds wafting through the attentive crowds.
"It really is a wonderful atmosphere on Wednesdays for our concerts. The Pavilion has marvelous acoustics and, as the band director Dave Richardson often points out, 'a thousand shades of green' as you look around the park," said Davis. "I think it's great to see different generations of families each week enjoying themselves."
Morever, Davis knows all of the kids who are playing in the park while their parents and grandparents listen to music will have "wonderful memories as they get older of a community event that just doesn't happen everywhere anymore like it does here."
For long-time resident Twila Ingham, the band directs sweet memories to the forefront. "I do 'remember the days' many years ago, when my parents would take all five of us kids and one of those large paper bags full of popcorn out to listen to the Boone Municipal Band every Wednesday evening throughout the summer months," she said.
At that time the band played at Blair Park, across the street from the high school, said Ingham, instead of its current home Herman Park Pavilion at the south end of Greene Street.
"The park had a pond that the kids would inevitably end up playing in during the concerts," she said. "We always enjoyed ourselves, and going to the concerts meant that we kids got to stay up later than usual - that was always a treat!"
For the last 16 years or so, Boone also hosts the Iowa Municipal Band Festival on the second Saturday in July each year. "In the past we've had bands from as far (away) as Germany and as close as Ames join us for a full day of music in the park," said Davis.
Be it Basie or Bach, there's good reason for Boone citizens to wend their way to the Herman Park Pavilion for a little mid-season music.
"It was, and I'm sure it still is, a great way to spend a summer evening," said Ingham. "The nice part of this is that the Wednesday night concerts were and still are free. There's no charge, so get off that couch and bring the family out for a great evening of entertainment!"
Mary Catlett can be reached at mcatlett@newsrepublican.com
The genesis of the Boone Big Band offers a musical counterpoint to its municipal cousin.
Formed by jazz enthusiasts of the concert band, the Boone Big Band is a full-size award winning community-based band made up of five saxophones, four trombones, five trumpets, drums, piano, bass and guitar. They held their first annual chili feed and dance at the Boone Municipal Airport last October.
"We really didn't plan on ever performing as a group," said Lowell Davis. "We just thought it would be fun to have an outlet to enjoy some of the music that we all love. Once we played together a few times people got wind of the group's existence and asked us to perform in public."
Their first performances were so well received, and the players enjoyed themselves so much that the group decided to continue on. They now have over 100 charts in their repertoire.
"We love playing the music and people seem to enjoy listening to us," he said. "We're on a bit of a hiatus for the summer months as the focus returns to the municipal band and its style of music, but we'll be back in full force this fall."
