Category Archives: Ancillary Vintage Events

Maurice “The Music Man”

One of the serendipitous highlights that some folks had during Vintage Band Festival 2024 was watching a pop-up concert given by the Alphorns. Maybe you found them at the Northfield Public Library plaza or later in front of Robin’s Egg Bakery or the Hideaway Coffeehouse and Wine Bar. Their lovely sound filled the air downtown in between the performances in Bridge Square. I can’t imagine what those horns would sound like in the mountain valleys of Switzerland!

Another unexpected moment was the appearance of Maurice “The Music Man” before the festival began on Friday. Maurice drove all the way from Indiana with a truck loaded with musical instruments for sale. He parked his vehicle behind the VBF stage and opened it up to reveal dozens of brass and wind instruments from various eras of the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Throughout the day on Saturday, musicians from the VBF roster stopped to chat and sample Maurice’s fare, and some made purchases that they hadn’t expected to make before arriving in Northfield.

Maurice told me that he acquires his inventory in many ways and that some of the instruments need TLC before they’re ready for sale. He has two colleagues that help him with repairs, but even in his 80s, he’s the only one who takes the show on the road.

A few days after VBF 2024, I did a Google search on Maurice. I figured that someone somewhere must have written a story about him and I wasn’t wrong. I found a piece in Off Beat Magazine from 2018 titled “Maurice the Horn Wizard”, by Noé Cugny. Turns out that Maurice was a regular for years at the annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, but he got his start in Paris at the age of 17.

I have two regrets about my time with Maurice. I didn’t get a picture of him and I never caught his last name!

Leap Year Swing Dance February 29

Put on your dancing shoes for Leap Year Swing Dance, February 29, 2020. The event will be held at the Northfield Ballroom (1055 HWY 3 North) and will run from 7:30-10:00 pm. Music will be provided by Bend in the River Big Band with vocalist Linnea Nelson Marrin. Victor Albrecht, a local dance instructor, will provide free swing dance lessons beginning at 6:45. There will be a cash bar. General admission tickets are $15. Student admission is $10.

Invite your friends and neighbors. All are welcome!

This event is a benefit for Vintage Band Festival.

VBF 2019: Music to Accompany Golf/Baseball

Vintage Base Ball

Saturday, August 3, 2019

Old Main Green, St. Olaf College

Game #1 10am–Northfield Silver Stars vs. Minneapolis Quicksteps

Game #2 11:30am–Minneapolis Quicksteps vs. Rochester Roosters

Game #3 1pm–Northfield Silver Stars vs. Rochester Roosters

Music soundtrack by New Prague Area Community Band, Rush Wagner conducting

John Falck Memorial Golf Tournament

Thursday, August 1, 2019

Northfield Golf Course

Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band 12:15pm

Alexander’s Ragtime Brass 5pm

The John Falck Memorial Golf Tournament is a private event sponsored by Three Links Care Center. For information on how to register for this event, please click here.

Vintage Band Festival: Ten Years of Music and Memories

Vintage Band Festival will present its latest Enrichment Series installment twice on Monday, May 9, 2016. The program will be given first at the Northfield Retirement Community Chapel (900 Cannon Valley Drive West) beginning at 3:45pm. The Northfield Senior Center (1651 Jefferson Parkway) will host the second presentation at 7pm.

The featured guest will be Dr. Paul Niemisto speaking on the topic “Vintage Band Festival: Ten Years of Music and Memories.” Dr. Niemisto will address such questions as “What is a Vintage Band?” “How do we locate and select the vintage bands that play at the festival?” “What can listeners look forward to at the 2016 Vintage Band Festival?” Niemisto will also perform a demonstration on the helicon, a low brass instrument that is a precursor to the modern-day Sousaphone. He will have three helicons from his personal collection on display at the event.

Vintage Band Festival 2016 will take place in Northfield July 28-31, 2016. 30 bands will play over 100 concerts in Northfield and surrounding communities during the 4-day festival. 2016 is the 10-year anniversary of Vintage Band Festival. Details of the 2016 festival can be found at www.vintagebandfestival.org.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the

SoutheasternMinnesota Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and

cultural heritage fund.

Fall 2015 Report to Friends of VBF

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

One Day Festival August 1, 2015

Our second one-day event on August 1 was a tremendous success. 12 bands played on the Bridge Square stage during the 12-hour festival and donations from the audience reached $8,000. Thanks to Riverwalk Market Fair for another fruitful collaboration!

Financial Update

On August 3, 2015 Vintage Band Festival was able to meet all of its past obligations, pay for the expenses of the 2015 one-day festival and continue into the fall with a positive cash balance. Since that time, additional donations and grant awards have resulted in a cash balance of $20,000. Since the projected budget of the 2016 festival is approximately $100,000, $80,000 remains to be raised. We plan to accomplish this with a combination of grants, business sponsorships and appeals to VBF friends like you!

Homecoming at Fort Snelling

VBF sponsored the music for the reenactment of the 150^th anniversary of the 2nd Minnesota Infantry’s homecoming at historic Fort Snelling on August 15. Thanks to The Manitou Regimental Band for a fabulous job!

Vintage Band Festival Presents

VBF hosted three amazing educational programs during the fall. On September 28 Paul Maybery gave a presentation on the history of brass bands in the United States. William Crowder, “Bugler Bill”, was in period dress on October 26 and demonstrated dozens of bugle calls in a “day in the life” of the United States Army infantry. On November 23, Joy Riggs read from her forthcoming biography of her great grandfather, G. Oliver Riggs, a real-life music man. Thanks to our friends at the Northfield Retirement Center and the Northfield Senior Center for being great partners in this effort.

News from the Board of Directors

Jesse Streitz joined the Board at the November meeting. Jesse is a recently retired local business owner and a fine clarinetist. Welcome Jesse! Jim Haas, VBF Treasurer, announced his plans to resign from the Board at the end of 2015. Thanks to Jim for his outstanding work during the past two years!

VBF Secures SEMAC Grant

Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council awarded Vintage Band Festival a $10,000 Arts and Culture Heritage Grant in November. The money will be used to support the participation of a number of Midwest bands in the 2016 festival. Thanks to Board Secretary Joy Riggs for her successful grant application.

2016 Festival

The next multi-day Vintage Band Festival is scheduled for July 28-31, 2016. The band roster is nearing completion and promises to be an outstanding array of variety and talent. 2016 will be the 10-year anniversary of Vintage Band Festival and next year’s festival will be the sixth staging of this unique blend of brass and wind music,

You Can Help!

Please consider a year-end tax-deductible donation to Vintage Band Festival. You can make a secure donation on our website, vintagebandfestival.org, or send a check to Vintage Band Festival, 204 W. 7^th St.., Box130, Northfield, MN 55057.

Vintage Band Festival Educational Series

Monday September 28, 2015: 3:15pm at the Northfield Retirement Center Chapel and 7:00 PM at the Northfield Senior Center Performance Room. Paul Mayberry of Savage, MN, music historian, arranger and conductor (as well as a tuba player} is our inaugural speaker. He is well known for finding brass band music from the 19th century and arranging it for bands to perform today. He arranged the music for Ken Burns’ television series on the Civil War and on baseball. Paul will bring rare 19th century brass band instruments, photographs and recordings to present a program on the Story of Brass Bands in America.

Monday October 26, 2015: 3:15pm at the Northfield Retirement Center Chapel and 7:00 PM at the Northfield Senior Center Performance Room. Bugler Bill, a Civil War Re-enactor and bugle historian from the Twin Cities will present a lively program on Civil War Bugler history and do all the calls “in character.” He is a popular presenter at Civil War Round Tables and in schools. He will bring several bugles to show and to play. There’s a well-done Youtube video here that previews Bugler Bill’s presentation.

Monday November 23, 2015: 3:15pm at the Northfield Retirement Center Chapel and 7:00 PM at the Northfield Senior Center Performance Room. Northfield’s own Joy Riggs will give us the highlights of a book she is writing about her own Great Grandfather G. Oliver Riggs, a 19th and early 20th Century Midwestern Band Director, a real live Music Man. He toured with a band in the early 20th Century that visited Civil War Battle Fields to dedicate monuments to Soldiers from the upper Midwest. Joy comes from generations of music educators and is a dedicated volunteer for many music groups in Northfield, serving on the Board of Directors for the Northfield Youth Choirs and for the Vintage Band Festival. She is an award winning magazine columnist, writer and a blogger at My Musical Family.