Arts & Entertainment

Sunday Concert Marks 50 Years for Fridley City Band

The band will play 'pops' songs from past decades.

At 50, the Fridley City Band is almost as old as some of the "pops" songs on the program for the spring concert with the Northeast Orchestra on Sunday, March 13, 3 p.m. at the Church of St. William, 6120 Fifth St. NE, Fridley.

Band members Rich and Bev Kinsman know exactly how the band started back in 1961, because they were there. At a school band boosters meeting, Rich Kinsman asked the other parents, "How many of you played in a band?" Most raised their hands, and that was the beginning of the Fridley City Band.

The band held its first concert in June, 1961, outdoors at the Holly Center mall. This summer a concert will mark the band's 50th anniversary with a short skit about its origins, Rich Kinsman said.

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Five decades later, the band is still going strong—practicing weekly and drawing 25–30 players for most performances, under the direction of Phil Raaen, who has held the baton for 17 years.

At Sunday's concert, the Fridley City Band will play songs from the 1950s, '60s, '70s and '80s, Kinsman said.

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"We welcome new players," Rich Kinsman said. "There's always turnover as people move." He said the band invites anyone who plays a brass or reed instrument to attend one of the band for practice at Fridley Middle School every Monday at 7:15 p.m. (The band is particularly in need of percussionists now, he said, following the departure of a couple key players.)

In the beginning, Rich Kinsman said, nearly every member of the band lived in Fridley, but since then the band has opened up to people from other places. Even the Kinsmans lived elsewhere for a time after a move to the western suburbs. But they tired of twice-weekly commutes to Fridley for band and orchestra rehearsals so they moved back (though they couldn't find the right house in Fridley so live nearby in Coon Rapids).

Another thing that has changed: city government financial support. In 1961, the city band enjoyed the favor of Mayor Bill Nee, who wasn't in the band but, like the Kinsmans, played French horn. (Nee displayed his horn in a prominent place above his home fireplace, Rich Kinsman recalled.) For a few years, the band was part of the city budget, but that's long past, Rich Kinsman said.


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