Category Archives: Fundraising

VBF Spring 2016 Fund Appeal

The following letter was recently sent to the Vintage Band Festival donor base. Since many website visitors are not yet donors, the letter is reprinted here for their information.

VBF 2016 Pin.3MidnightBlue

May 2, 2016

Dear friends,

The tenth anniversary four-day Vintage Band Festival happens July 28-31—just three months away.  The band roster and the performance schedule have been finalized. There will be 31 bands and about 100 concerts.  Our last four-day festival, in 2013, attracted 15,000 attendees, and the diversity of bands and music repertoires was amazing—the festival has become a major event in this region and nationally.

The lion’s share of the approximately $100,000 in funding for the festival comes from hundreds of gifts by local individuals, an astonishing example of cross-community collaboration.  In addition to making cash gifts, Northfielders host band members in their homes, set up and take down at performances, and give hours of their time locating resources beyond cash so that the whole project can come to pass.

I’m writing to ask you to make a gift in support of this summer’s four-day Vintage Band Festival.  Gifts of any size are deeply appreciated, but here are two ways to support the festival that link to specific needs at the core of our costs:

  • We house visiting bands that travel long distances to Northfield in Carleton College facilities at our expense.  Since several of the bands will stay 3-4 nights this summer we will need to fund approximately 300 nights at $35/night.  A gift to fund five nights would be $175; ten nights $350, and so on.
  • The largest part of our budget is the fees we pay to get some of the best and most unusual bands to come to the festival.  Some nearby Minnesota bands do not charge us a fee but we will be paying 20 bands a total of $33,750 for this summer’s festival.  A gift of any amount will help with these costs, but for a gift of $1,000 we would designate you in our publicity as the sponsor of a specific band.

Checks can be made out to Vintage Band Festival at 204 W. 7th St. #130, Northfield, MN 55057.  Credit card donations can be made by clicking the big green “DONATE” button on our website www.vintagebandfestival.org. Thank you most warmly for your consideration of this request.  Let the music begin!

Sincerely,

Janet Gettings Stevens, President                                                                     Paul Niemisto

Vintage Band Festival Board of Directors                                                        Artistic Director

Spaghetti Dinner to Benefit Vintage Band Festival

April 12, 2016

For Immediate Release

Northfield, Minnesota—The Northfield Eagles Club will be hosting a benefit spaghetti dinner 2016 VBF Poster Spaghetti Dinner Spaghetti dinner posteras a fundraiser for Vintage Band Festival 2016. The event will take place, Saturday, April 23, 2016 from 5:30pm – 7:00 pm at the Fraternal Order of the Eagles Club, 304 Water Street South, Northfield. Dinner will consist of spaghetti with marinara sauce and parmesan cheese, salad and sliced bread. Cash bar will be available. Local area scouts will be serving the dinner.

Live music will be presented throughout the evening. There will be three ensembles playing for the dinner guests: student musicians from St. Olaf College at 5:30, Bridge Square Band at 6:00 and an ensemble of student musicians from Northfield High School at 6:30.

Tickets for the Vintage Band Festival spaghetti benefit dinner are available in advance at Coldwell Banker South Metro Office, 419 Division Street South, Northfield. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children. Tickets may also be purchased at the door the night of the event. All proceeds from the event will benefit Vintage Band Festival.

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.

VBF Presents “Fife and Drum Experiences in the Civil War”

March 28, 2016

For Immediate Release

For more information contact Jan Stevens (sstevenshome@yahoo.com ; 507-244-0500).

Northfield, Minnesota—On Saturday, April 9, 2016 at 3:45pm at the Northfield Retirement Center and again at 7:00pm at the Northfield Senior Center, Vintage Band Festival presents “Fife and Drum Experiences in the Civil War.” The public is invited to experience the stirring sounds of traditional fife and drum music as it was played in the United States Army during the American Civil War.

Two 45-year members of the state’s premier Civil War re-enacting unit, the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, will explain and demonstrate the instruments and various calls, signals and martial airs that were an essential part of the daily life of all Minnesota’s volunteer soldiers 150 years ago. The men will be wearing authentic copies of original clothing and accessories.

John Guthmann and Jim Moffet will recount how they found an annotated original music book in the collection of the Anoka County Historical Society that has proven to be instrumental in the ongoing musicology of this segment of American folk music. The book was written by George Bruce and Dan Emmett and is titled “Drummers’ and Fifers’ Guide”.

“Fife and Drum Experiences in the Civil War” is presented by Vintage Band Festival, a 10-year old organization dedicated to showcasing vintage brass and wind music in Northfield and other southern Minnesota communities. The next Vintage Band Festival will be held July 28-31, 2016 in Northfield.

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 150th 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. 7th St.., Box130, Northfield, MN 55057.

VBF Receives $10,000 SEMAC Grant

Vintage Band Festival is pleased to announce that on November 17, 2015 VBF received a $10,000 Arts and Culture Heritage Grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council (SEMAC). This grant will be used to support several Minnesota bands that will be appearing in the next Vintage Band Festival July 28-31, 2016.

SEMAC awarded 38 grants in this cycle for a total of $234,460 in funding to applicants throughout southeastern Minnesota. This included eight Presenter/Production Assistance grants for $22,500, eight Small Towns/Rural Areas grants for $19,605, and 22 Arts & Cultural Heritage grants for $192,355.

Many thanks for the efforts of Joy Riggs, Vintage Band Festival Board member and Secretary, for her fine work in writing a successful application. This is the second SEMAC grant that Joy has written. The first was a $4,000 General Operating Support grant awarded in August 2015.