Band concert
Friday, August 14, 2009
Friends of Kaw Heritage and the Voices of the Wind People Pageant Committee invite the public to the fifth annual free Community Band Concert at 6:30 p.m. Sunday at the Kaw Mission State Historic Site in Council Grove, 500 N. Mission St.. Back by popular demand is the Flint Hills Community Band, led by Dennis Brooks, made up of musicians from Alma, Alta Vista, Cottonwood Falls, Emporia, Herington and Manhattan. Visitors need to bring lawn chairs or blankets.
The program for the evening includes music that was popular during the Civil War, including John Philip Sousa marches. Jazz, blues and tunes from popular musicians also will be featured.
Of special interest will be the “Morris County Exposition” was written by A.J. Guille in 1899 for the 1900 Morris County Fair. The original composition was written for piano and published by Frank E. Pirtle, who owned a music store on Main Street. The band will play an arrangement written by Council Grove native Todd Hollis as a dedication to his former music instructor, Dennis McGettrick, upon his retirement from teaching in 2000.
The Voices of the Wind People pageant committee will serve homemade ice cream and cake during the concert as a fundraiser for their September 2010 pageant.
Sponsors of this event also include the Kansas Historical Society and the Morris County Historical Society. For more information, contact the Kaw Mission at (620) 767-5410; e-mail: kawmission@kshs.org; kawmission.org.