Vintage Band Festival on the radio

Recently, two members of the Vintage Band Festival board joined Jeff Johnson on his morning radio show to talk about Vintage Band Festival 2023 this summer on Saturday, July 29.

Dan and Randy talked about the upcoming one-day festival and the band roster for the day. Highlights include the first appearance at VBF of the Minnesota Pipes and Drums, a band that focuses on honoring Scottish musical traditions and the return of the 34th Division Regimental Band “The Red Bull Band.”

Thanks to Jeff Johnson for the opportunity to spread a little VBF love!

Listen to the complete interview at this link: https://kymnradio.net/2023/05/12/dan-bergeson-and-randall-ferguson-on-the-vintage-band-festival/

Vintage Band Festival announces lineup for the 2023 event on July 29

The music at Vintage Band Festival 2023 in Northfield, Minnesota will begin at 9:00 am and continue without interruption until 10:00 pm. Twelve bands from an array of musical genres will perform on the Wenger stage in Bridge Square throughout the day on Saturday, July 29, 2023.

One highlight of the day will be the first appearance at Vintage Band Festival of the Minnesota Pipes and Drums, a nationally recognized competition and performance bagpipe and drum corps based in Minneapolis. Their mission is “to carry on the rich history and heritage of Scottish music”.

Two bands will be returning to perform after lengthy absences: Brass Messengers and the 34th Division Regimental Band, “The Red Bull Band”. Brass Messengers is a street band from Minneapolis whose music originated in the Balkans, Africa and the Caribbean and the band last performed at Vintage Band Festival in 2010. The Red Bull Band is the musical cohort of the 34th Infantry Division of the United States Army, “The Red Bulls”, and currently part of the Minnesota National Guard. They have been deployed on missions around the world and last performed at Vintage Band Festival in 2019.

Other musical traditions represented at Vintage Band Festival 2023 will be New Orleans-style brass, German brass, an all-trumpet choir, a mariachi band, British-style brass, Mexican banda music, and a swinging big band to round out the evening.

Sharing Bridge Square with Vintage Band Festival 2023 is Riverwalk Market Fair. Every Saturday from May -October this weekly gathering features local artists selling their wares including pottery, jewelry, carved wood, granite charcuterie boards, and more. A rich array of local food is available and farmers will be offering products such as organically grown vegetables, seasonal jams, freshly baked breads, yarn spun from their own sheep’s wool, and goat milk soap.

Vintage Band Festival 2023 is free and open to the public. A blanket or folding chair is highly recommended for comfort. Stop by for an hour or stay for the day!

For the complete schedule of performances and important updates, visit www.vintagebandfestival.org. For more information about Northfield, visit www.visitnorthfield.com.

Vintage Band Festival receives SEMAC grant

 

Last month Vintage Band Festival received a $10,000 grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council in support of the forthcoming one-day festival in 2023. We are honored to have our application approved and grateful

The intended use of the grant is to build on the efforts made in the summer of 2022 to assist seniors with safe transportation to and from the outdoor venues at Vintage Band Festival and seating during the performances. Several other community partners worked with VBF on this project and the hope is that they will do so again next summer. These partners included the Northfield Retirement Community, Three Links Care Center, Benedictine Living Communities, the City of Northfield, and Age-Friendly Northfield.

Other Rice County  recipients of SEMAC grants in the most recent cycle include: Cannon Valley Regional Orchestra, Carleton College, Northfield Arts Guild, Northfield Healthy Community Initiative, Northfield Troubadors, and Paradise Center for the Arts.

In November 2008, Minnesotans passed the clean water, land, and legacy amendment to the Minnesota Constitution.  As a result, over the next twenty-five years, a small portion of the state’s sales tax will be dedicated to: a clean water fund, an outdoor heritage fund, a parks and trails fund, and an arts and cultural heritage fund.

Proceeds from the arts and cultural heritage fund “may be spent only on arts, arts education and arts access and to preserve Minnesota’s history and cultural heritage.”

Tuba Christmas was a resounding success!

Saturday, December 3, was a magical day in Northfield. For the first time in three years Vintage Band Festival was again able to present Tuba Christmas to the Northfield community. 2022 is the 49th anniversary year of Tuba Christmas, an event that is now celebrated in over 300 venues throughout the world.

Nearly 50 musicians were present on the stage in Skinner Memorial Chapel on the campus of Carleton College. The chapel was filled with an appreciative audience and everyone had a smile on their with the joy of being in community again and hearing the sound of low-brass music filling the space.

One registered player was not in his chair, but his tuba was on the stage adorned with a Tuba Christmas headband and a U.S. Navy flag. Nick Borene, a graduate of Northfield High School and now serving in the Navy on the west coast, wanted to attend this year, but couldn’t, so his parents registered him and brought his tuba to the event. We were glad to welcome him in absentia!

Thanks to the members of the VBF board who were on hand to register the musicians, welcome the audience and sell music books and Tuba Christmas apparel. Thanks also to Carleton College for co-hosting and sponsoring the event for the fourth time. See you again in 2023!

Give to the Max Day 2022

 

Vintage Band Festival is once again participating in Give to the Max Day (GTMD22), Minnesota’s giving holiday. GTMD22 is Thursday, November 17 from 12:00 am to 11:59 pm. In addition to Vintage Band Festival, you can give to as many organizations as you’d like on one platform. Each time you make a donation, you will be entered in a drawing for extra dollars to be awarded to the organization to which you just donated.

Every 15 minutes on November 17, a $500 Golden Ticket will be awarded to a lucky organization. Every hour, a $1,000 Golden Ticket will be given and at the end of GTMD22, a $10,000 Golden Ticket will be the prize.

Our goal for GTMD22 is $3,000. Vintage Band Festival 2023 has a budget of $20,000 and we’re hoping to raise 15% of the budget on November 17.

The period known as Early Giving began on November 1 and continues until 12:00 am on November 17. Each day during Early Giving, there will be a drawing for one organization to receive $500 as a result of one of their donors. In 2021, Vintage Band Festival was the lucky winner of $500 as the result of an Early Giving donation. Help us win another one! All donations received during Early Giving will automatically be entered into the drawings on GTMD22.

Tuba Christmas 2022 in Northfield

There hasn’t been a Tuba Christmas in Northfield since 2019. We’re excited to bring you the following announcement.

Vintage Band Festival is presenting Tuba Christmas 2022 in Northfield, Minnesota on Saturday, December 3 at 3pm. The event will take place in Skinner Memorial Chapel, 405 1st St. E. on the campus of Carleton College. Retired St. Olaf College professor Dr. Paul Niemisto will be the conductor of Tuba Christmas 2022.

Tuba Christmas is an annual event that brings together euphonium, baritone, sousaphone and tuba players of all ages to play Christmas carols for the enjoyment of family, friends and the general public. The music made by dozens of low brass instruments playing as a choir is an experience not to be missed, either as a participant or as a listener.

2022 is the 49th anniversary of Tuba Christmas concerts/events which are presented throughout the world. Tuba Christmas was conceived in 1974 by tubist Harvey Phillips of Indiana University as a tribute to his teacher and mentor William J. Bell, born on Christmas Day, 1902. The first Tuba Christmas was conducted by Paul Lavalle at New York City’s Rockefeller Plaza Ice Rink on Sunday, December 22, 1974.

There are now over 300 Tuba Christmas events produced annually throughout the United States and internationally. Registration for participants in Northfield’s Tuba Christmas will open at noon on December 3. Registration fee is $10. There will be a rehearsal at 1:00 pm and the performance will be at 3:00 pm. Music played at Tuba Christmas will be from “Carols for a Merry Tuba Christmas” which will be available for purchase at registration. Participants should bring a music stand if possible. Details for the event can be found at www.vintagebandfestival.org .

Tuba Christmas 2022 in Northfield is made possible with generous assistance from Carleton College.

Music around town during VBF 2022

Tom Baker’s Mardi Gras Brass

OK, so there’s the fantastic lineups in Bridge Square for four days (Thu-Sun) and Central Park for two days (Sat/Sun) and  the 4 offsite location concerts on Thursday (Farmington, Cannon Falls, Montgomery, and Nerstrand), but is that all there is Vintage Band Festival?

Well, no. Windworks Quintet with play at Fifty North at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, July 29, and at the Northfield Public Library at 2:00 p.m. the same day.

Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band will play at the VFW Post 4393 Hall at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, July 29. Tom Baker’s Mardi Gras Brass will play at the Contented Cow Pub at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, July 29.

Ameriikan Poijat will play at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 30 at Tanzenwald Brewing Co.

Oh, and did we mention that on Sunday, July 31, you can hear Vintage Band Festival bands in 8 Northfield churches?

OK, we’ll stop now. Good luck on getting to each and every one of these shows.

You’re welcome!

To view the complete Vintage Band Festival 2022 Program, click here.

Vintage Band Festival opens with Brass Lassie and Selby Avenue Brass Band

Thursday, July 28 at 6:30 p.m. the first notes of Vintage Band Festival 2022 will sound. Brass Lassie, a Celtic band from the Twin Cities with a brass horn component will play the opening set. Brass Lassie is a bold Minnesota-based ensemble combining Celtic music with a big band attitude, performing extraordinary takes on Scottish, Irish and Breton music. Brass Lassie features a four-piece horn section, a great rhythm section, fine fiddle, flutes, concertina and vocals in smart, joyous brass-driven arrangements. The band’s founder and leader is Northfield native Laura McKenzie and Vintage Band Festival is excited for their return to the VBF stage.

The Selby Avenue Brass Band featuring Thomasina Petrus is a relatively new voice in the Minneapolis/St.Paul music scene. The group is led by Tom Wells, tubist, arranger and composer and music educator in the Twin Cities area. Tom’s compositions and arrangements fuel a band comprised of enthusiastic and experienced musicians (including a couple of Grammy winners). While their musical roots come from the streets of New Orleans, they expand from that genre into many others. Thomasina Petrus is a Minneapolis actor and jazz vocalist, known for her signature role as jazz icon Billie Holiday. In 2019 the band did a club gig at the festival, but this is the group’s first appearance at the Bridge Square Legacy Stage. The music starts at 8:00 p.m.

Vintage Band Festival and COVID-19

This the first multi-day Vintage Band Festival since 2019 and the first since the COVID-19 pandemic began. While the transmission level in Northfield (Rice County) is rated low by the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), the COVID-19 Omicron variants are highly transmissible and it’s still wise to be aware of one’s surroundings and use mitigation measures as needed.

The current CDC COVID-19 guidelines are the following:

Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines. Get tested if you have symptoms. Wear a mask if you have symptoms, a positive test, or exposure to someone with COVID-19. Wear a mask on public transportation. You may choose to wear a mask at any time as an additional precaution to protect yourself and others.

Vintage Band Festival encourages musicians and audience members to wear N95 or KN95 masks in indoor settings where maintaining physical distance from others isn’t possible. Please stay home if you have symptoms. We also encourage everyone to get the full vaccination regimen for the vaccines (varies by vaccine manufacturer, either 3 or 4 doses).

VBF music in neighboring communities

In 2022, the Vintage Band Festival music won’t be heard only in Northfield. We’ll have our bands playing in four different counties! We think of these events as musical evangelism. If you love the concert tonight, come to Northfield tomorrow for three more days of this premier brass band sound.

On Thursday, July 28, four veteran VBF ensembles will give concerts in Montgomery (Le Sueur County), Nerstrand (Rice County), Cannon Falls (Goodhue County) and Farmington (Dakota County).

Independent Silver Band from Mt. Vernon, Illinois, will play at 7:00 p.m. at Memorial Park in Montgomery in the city’s “Concert in the Park” summertime series.

Dodworth Saxhorn Band

Dodworth Saxhorn Band from Ann Arbor, Michigan, will play at 7:30 p.m. at the City Park in Nerstrand.

Also at 7:30, Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band will perform at St.Ansgar’s Lutheran Church in Cannon Falls. Finally, Kentucky Baroque Trumpets will play at Farmington Lutheran Church in Farmington. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m.

Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band

If you are in these areas or your schedule won’t allow you to be in Northfield on the festival weekend, visit one of these locations for a rewarding Vintage Band Festival experience.