The Nanaimo Concert Band will go play at the park next week.
The band is performing a free concert this Monday (July 24) at Maffeo Sutton Park’ s Lions Pavilion.
Nanaimo Concert Band is looking forward to the show and has planned a program of fun, lively music, said Shari Barker, clarinet player.
“It’s very, very family oriented. We’re playing stuff that the kids will recognize, stuff for the older crowd…” she said. “Almost every one of them, you’ll be toe-tapping.”
The band, nearly 50 members strong, was established in 1872 and Barker said “we haven’t missed a Monday night [rehearsal] in 145 years.”
There are a lot of longtime members in the band and there are former professional musicians and band teachers.
“These are top-notch musicians,” Barker said. “Everyone that plays is of high-calibre, but loves music and so that’s why we do it for free.”
The band looks forward to playing at the park and won’t sweat the acoustic challenges of an open-air setting. The Nanaimo Concert Band is anticipating better weather than last year, when a downpour drenched the park, but the show went on.
“We thought, ‘that’s it,’ but the umbrellas came out,” Barker said. “My mother-in-law, who’s 97, sat there, freezing in the rain, but they never missed a beat; they stayed there the whole time. It was really well attended.”
The concert starts at 6:30 p.m. Spectators should bring a lawn chair or a blanket.