Category Archives: VBF News

Spring Forward for Vintage Band Festival May 1-11

May 1-11 has been designated “Spring Forward MN” by the online fundraising organization GiveMN.org. GiveMN offers a platform with which donors can give gifts to multiple Minnesota non-profits simultaneously. The website is available for year-round donations, but has an annual event called “Give to the Max Day” in November.

Last year GiveMN saw that non-profit organizations were unable to do traditional in-person fundraising due to the COVID-19 pandemic so it added a spring event to assist them. It was so successful that the decision was made to repeat the event in 2021.

Vintage Band Festival has participated in every Give to the Max Day since the event began and uses the GiveMN platform throughout the year as well. Earlier this month the VBF Board of Directors elected to also participate in “Spring Forward MN 2021.”

Besides the convenience that GiveMN.org offers donors, there are other benefits during Spring Forward MN. $50,000 will be awarded in increments of $250 and $1,000 for donors to make an extra contribution to an organization of their choose. These Bonus Grants will be determined with hourly and daily drawings during the May1-11 donation period. Vintage Band Festival has been the recipient of one of these surprise grants in the past and hopes to be a lucky winner again.

At Vintage Band Festival we are planning to return to live programming in 2021, although at this time we’re still not sure whether that will be in-person or virtual performances due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. Perhaps it will be a combination of the two formats! In any case, we will have production expenses in order to put on a show. This is where you can help us. We have established a goal of $5,000 to be raised before May 31, 2021.

Please join us during Spring Forward MN in the drive toward our goal of raising $5,000. Donate online with whatever amount is right for you at GiveMN.org anytime between May 1-11. Just search for “Vintage Band Music Festival” on the givemn.org home page and click the big green DONATE button. Maybe your donation will be the one that secures another Bonus Grant for Vintage Band Festival!

COVID-19 update from Vintage Band Festival

The last event that Vintage Band Festival produced took place on February 29, 2020. We had a great turnout at the Northfield Ballroom for our “Leap Year Swing Dance” with music provided by Bend in the River Big Band. Two weeks later, all live entertainment in the entire country was silenced by COVID-19. Vintage Band Festival went on hiatus for the rest of 2020.

Now that vaccines are being distributed, the medical community and governmental agencies are considering what that means for resuming activities that 12 months ago were thought of as “normal” or “routine.” We are following those discussions and announcements with great interest and trying to chart a course for Vintage Band Festival in 2021.

It’s too early for us to know whether we’ll be able to provide music this year in our usual format: outdoors in a public park. Because of that uncertainty, we are exploring options for streaming music in a virtual format. This could be live or recorded music or a combination of the two. Stay tuned for developments on this front!

In the meantime, we continue to raise funds for the future needs of Vintage Band Festival. We have recently added PayPal as an additional option for online donations at www.vintgagebandfestival.org. We also are beginning to see donors considering legacy gifts to our organization. These are larger gifts using donor-advised funds from investment portfolios. Please consult with your financial advisor if this is something you may be interested in doing. Some folks have even told us that they’re setting aside some of their stimulus money for Vintage Band Festival!

We hope this message finds you in good health and good spirits. One last thought: if you haven’t received your COVID-19 vaccination yet, please do so as soon as circumstances allow. The more people that get vaccinated, the sooner we can gather in a group setting to listen to brass bands together!

Sheldon Theatre Brass Band-VBF 2018

Give to the Max Day Nov. 19

2020 has been a challenging year for all non-profit organizations and Vintage Band Festival is no exception. Due to COVID-19 we found it necessary to cancel all of our planned events for the year, including the Vintage Band Festival One-Day Mini-fest scheduled for July 31 and Tuba Christmas in Northfield, scheduled for December 5.

We are hoping that 2021 will be a better year for VBF and to that end we are fundraising for future activities.

Vintage Band Festival is participating in Give to the Max Day (GTMD20) as part of the VBF 2020 fund drive. GTMD20 will take place November 19 from 12 am-11:59:59 pm. One of the benefits for donors who make gifts during GTMD20 is the chance to be winners in over 100 prize drawings. If you are selected, an additional donation will be made to VBF. Prizes range from $500 to $10,000!

Here is a list of the prize drawings during GTMD20:

$500 Golden Tickets every 15 minutes
$1,000 Hourly Golden Tickets
$500 Early Giving Golden Tickets (1 each day between November 1-19)
$10,000 Super-sized Golden Ticket (drawn from all donations)

How to donate to Vintage Band Festival during GTMD20:

Go to www.givemn,org
Click on the green “Donate Now” button
Do a search for “Vintage Band Music Festival”
Click on the green “Donate” button
Choose your suggested giving level or fill in your unique amount
Enter your credit card information
Accept our thanks!

The goal for the VBF 2020 fund drive (through December 31, 2020) is $5,000. As of today, we have raised 26% of that amount. Give to the Max Day would be an excellent time for our friends to help us make significant progress toward reaching or exceeding our goal.

Early giving is now open for GTMD20. You can donate anytime between today and 11:59:59 pm on November 19, 2020. Please use the hashtag #GTMD20 when you share any news about Vintage Band Festival on social media.

Tuba Christmas 2020 in Northfield has been cancelled

2020 has turned out to be like nothing any of us born after the end of World War II have ever experienced. We had to cancel the Vintage Band Festival mini-fest that would have taken place on August 1, 2020. Our community of Northfield, the town that defeated the James-Younger gang’s attempted bank robbery in 1876, cancelled the annual Defeat of Jesse James Days celebration for the first time ever since its beginning in 1948. And the internationally reknowned St. Olaf Christmas Festival for 2020 has just been cancelled. All of that will likely make the next sentence easier to understand.

The Vintage Band Festival Board of Directors has decided to cancel Tuba Christmas for 2020. The annual low brass holiday showcase was to have taken place on Saturday, December 5, 2020 at Carleton College in Northfield as it has for the past three years. However, due to the obviously compromising conditions caused by the threat of COVID-19, particularly in indoor settings, this is the wisest and safest course of action.

In the meantime, please support arts organizations of all sorts with whatever financial support and encouragement you can offer. This is a very challenging time for musicians at all levels of engagement, from school children in middle school band to professionals in the finest orchestras in the country.

We hope to bring Vintage Band Festival back to the stage in 2021 and to that end we will continue to monitor guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Minnesota Department of Health as well as our community partners here in Northfield.

VBF 2020 is cancelled

The Vintage Band Festival Board of Directors regrets to announce that it has cancelled the planned one-day mini-festival scheduled for August 1, 2020. Although the 5/13/20 guidance from the State of Minnesota eased some restrictions for Minnesota businesses and social interactions, the guidelines regarding physical interactions are limited to no more than 10 people at any single gathering and there is still a ban on outdoor sporting events and concerts. Many Minnesota summer festivals and events have already been cancelled and no doubt the list of cancellations will continue to grow.

We owe it to the health and well-being of our musicians, our audience and our volunteers to stand down from our plans for the summer of 2020 and instead begin plans for getting together again on July 31, 2021 to celebrate wind and brass band music in an outdoor setting. Thanks to all of our fans, donors and musicians for their unending support over the past 15 years. Watch for news and updates on the Vintage Band Festival Facebook page and at www.vintagebandfestival.org.

#StaySafeMN

Vintage Band Festival Annual Meeting Feb. 10

The Vintage Band Festival Board of Directors will hold the organization’s annual meeting on Monday, February 10 at noon at the First United Church of Christ in Northfield, MN. The main order of business will be the election of officers for 2020. The following persons have volunteered to serve as officers and will be nominated at the meeting:

President–Dan Bergeson
Vice-President–Randy Ferguson
Secretary–Joy Riggs
Treasurer–Mary Rosenberg

The meeting is free and open to the public. All are welcome.

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.

Don’t forget: Tuba Christmas 2019 is December 7!

Tuba Christmas 2019 in Northfield, MN.

Skinner Chapel, Carleton College, 405 1st St E.

Registration opens at 12 pm.

$10 registration fee for musicians. Music for Tuba Christmas is the book “Carols for a Merry Tuba Christmas”, which will be available for purchase at the event if you don’t have one already. Books are $20. Tuba Christmas scarves, hats and headbands will also be available for purchase. Please bring a music stand is you have one and don’t forget to decorate your instrument!

Rehearsal is at 1 pm.

Concert is at 3 pm.

Concert is free and open to the public.

Tuba Christmas in Northfield December 7, 2019

Vintage Band Festival, in Northfield, Minnesota, is presenting Tuba Christmas on Saturday, December 7, 2019 at 3 pm. The event is co-sponsored by Carleton College and will take place in Skinner Memorial Chapel on the Carleton campus in Northfield. Registration opens at noon, rehearsal will take place at 1pm and the concert will be at 3pm. The Conductor of Tuba Christmas in Northfield will be Dr. Paul Niemisto, retired music faculty at St. Olaf College.

Tuba Christmas is a national activity that takes place in more than 300 locations across the United States. In each location (churches, hotel and mall atria, outdoor settings, colleges and universities, music halls) tuba and euphonium players get together under the leadership of a local musician or music educator to play Christmas carols. The sound that results is extremely rich and moving. The participants have a fabulous experience and return to play again year after year. Participant ages range from 11-80+.

If you play tuba, sousaphone, euphonium or baritone, please join us! If you’re a teacher of students who play those instruments, please bring your whole section! Also, please bring a music stand if you have one.

Participation fee for musicians is $10. Admission for the audience is free. This is a family-friendly event!

Thanks to everyone who made VBF 2019 possible!

Several weeks have passed since the last notes of Vintage Band Festival 2019 have faded to silence, but it’s still timely to once again thank all the folks who contributed in any way towards the success of the weekend. Click on the images below to read the names of the individuals in the many categories of our organization and its operation.

Most especially, thanks to those who contributed financially to the festival. Without adequate funding, it would not be possible to stage Vintage Band Festival. Our donors rock!