CLICK TO HEAR JACK HALL’S INTERVIEW WITH AMY CHOWN AND JOHN CHOWN
The Escanaba City Band will perform its final concert of the summer Wednesday night in Ludington Park.
It’s part of the final week of performances for the band, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary.
A man who has been alive for almost all of those 100 years, John Chown, will do the first song in this concert. He is 94 years old, and is a member of the city ban’d trumpet section. He also led the Escanaba HighSchool band program from 1959 to 1991.
“We are so lucky here to have a good city band who can do all kinds of variety of music,” Chown told RRN News in a Monday afternoon interview. “It’s always fun to get up on that podium one more time, as they say. I get a little bit nervous. I’ve got a lot of my former students, you know, sitting in front of me. This is a city band concert, and we’re outside, so it’s always good to do a march. I’m going to do one of my favorites. It’s called the Liberty Bell.”
Flute player and former student Tom Knoll said “there’s no better way to conclude our centennial season than having Mr. Chown up on the podium. We hope many of his former students will be in the audience.”
Chown’s daughter, Amy, has led the way with pubicity this entire 100th anniversary season, helping in the planning for many months.
“It’s worth celebrating,” she told RRN News. “It’s a really important institution to the City of Escanaba. It’s something that brings pride to everybody in the community. We’ve had a wonderful season of summer concerts down at Ludington Park.”
Even after Wednesday night’s concert, the band will continue to celebrate its centennial year on Thursday when it performs at the Governor’s Luncheon at the UP State Fair. The band is set to receive a special award from Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist (who is filling in for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer), and State Senator Ed McBroom. Then on Friday, the band will conducting a fundraiser at Elmer’s County Market, selling hot dogs and brats to the public from 10 am to 4 pm.
—Photos courtesy of Escanaba City Band
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