The Burlington Municipal Band will kick off its summer concert season Sunday night — but this isn’t a regular year.
The band is celebrating a century since it was established.
For Jim Priebe, the milestone is personal.
“It’s been an important part of our lives,” said Priebe.
He and his wife, Mary, have been playing in the Burlington Municipal Band for 60 years. He plays the trombone and she plays the clarinet.
“I think one of the greatest things about the band is it’s a multi-generational organization,” said Priebe, a retired music educator. “We have really talented high school age students that play and obviously all the age groups in between.”
Priebe, who was the sole conductor until the band adopted its rotation of active and retired music educators, said the group also includes doctors, ministers, and stay-at-home moms.
The tradition of bringing people together is the heart of the Burlington Municipal Band’s 100th anniversary celebration Sunday, with the season-opening concert at 7:30 p.m. in Crapo Park.
The opening concert will continue another longstanding tradition—the annual Teddy Bears Picnic.
Priebe said this year celebrates the inception of the Burlington Municipal Band.
“What happened a little more than 100 years ago, the Iowa legislature passed a law which said that communities could vote to establish a community band, and the community would fund the band, and that's what happened in Burlington,” Priebe said.
Next year, the Burlington Municipal Band will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of its first concert.
Priebe said the band has commissioned a new composition to recognize that occasion.
Originally funded by the city of Burlington, the band is now supported by a foundation that sustains the free performances in Crapo Park each summer.
In a proclamation read at this week’s Burlington city council meeting, the band was described as one of the community’s most treasured civic institutions.
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