Category Archives: VBF News

VBF 2015 General News Release

T0:                                         Southern Minnesota Media Outlets

WHAT:                                  Vintage Band Festival Mini-Fest

WHEN:                                  August 1, 2015

WHERE:                                Bridge Square, Northfield, MN

CONTACT INFO :                Rachel Gaul (gaul@stolaf.edu)

 

Northfield, Minnesota—July 13, 2015

Vintage Band Festival will present a one-day mini-festival on August 1, 2015 in downtown Northfield, Minnesota. There will be 12 different brass and wind bands playing throughout the day from 9am-9pm. Each band will have the stage for 45 minutes and the musical formats will range from Civil War to Old-Time to Jazz to Ethnic. There will be a German band, several community bands, a Mariachi Band and the “Red Bull Band” from the 34th Infantry Division of the Minnesota National Guard. Perennial favorites include the Sheldon Theatre Brass Band and the Copper Street Brass Quintet.

From 9am-1pm, Vintage Band Festival will be sharing Bridge Square with Riverwalk Market Fair, a street fair with a collection of local art vendors showcasing photography, painting, pottery, jewelry as well as local farmers and food artisans.

Listeners should bring a lawn chair or a blanket and may stay for a couple hours or the whole day. Food will be available onsite from Maria’s Taco Hut, Cannon Valley Lion’s Club, Johnny Pops and the Moravian Church or attendees can visit any of Northfield’s fine restaurants many of which are within several blocks of the festival site. For the complete schedule and any possible schedule updates, visit the Vintage Band Festival website.

Paul Niemisto, Artistic Director of Vintage Band Festival is available for interviews by phone or in person. Please contact Rachel Gaul (gaul@stolaf.edu) for more information and an appointment.

Vintage Band Festival 2013 Report to Donors

November 22, 2013

2013 was the best Vintage Band Festival yet.  Bands from Sweden, Germany, Austria, Texas, Chicago, Maryland, Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin, and Minnesota converged on Northfield Minnesota for 5 days of intense brass wind music.   Artistic director Paul Niemisto designed the festival to showcase vintage brass music, and to highlight the best of contemporary brass music from New Orleans jazz to Chicago shout bands to professional European brass ensembles.  Bringing all these together in one place makes the Vintage Band Festival unique in North America.

VBF 2013 was exponentially larger than either of the previous festivals. 35 bands provided a combined total of 134 unique musical experiences. In 2010, concerts were staged in seven communities beyond Northfield.  For 2013 we added six more towns to make a total of 13: Faribault, New Ulm, Cannon Falls, Red Wing, Chatfield, New Prague, Minneapolis, Scandia, St. Peter, Owatonna, Nerstrand, Montgomery and Kasota.

Staffing for VBF 2013 followed a similar format to the previous two festivals, though more people were required due to the increase in the number of band, communities and events.  A platoon of volunteers run the festival, ably coordinated this year by our omni-competent St. Olaf College interns Mitch Evett and Ramsey Walker.  The VBF website was completely redesigned to give concert-goers far more information. The online event schedule was transformed into an interactive experience complete with a biography of each band, a photo of the band and a Google map showing directions to the concert location. An additional Google map displayed all of the concert locations and directions to each one. Free audio samplers of most of the bands were made available using the SoundCloud service.

FESTIVAL GROWTH         2006-2013

Budget                 Bands                    Events                  Attendance        Communities

2006         $38,000               20                           36                           9,000                    2

2010       $100,000              25                           91                           12,000                   8

2013       $170,000              35                           134                         15,000                   14

What’s Next for the Vintage Band Festival

Artistic growth has exceeded our administrative infrastructure and fundraising ability, which needs to grow to match our artistic reach.  We need to recruit board members with specific skills, add to our administrative structure, and pay off about $50,000 in accumulated debt from the three Vintage Band Festivals.  We feel we are at a not-unexpected place for a young festival. We believe we are at a not-unexpected place in our organizational life.  We have established a successful festival unique in North America, and now need to build additional organizational infrastructure to support it.  We believe the $170,000 we spent this year is a reasonable budget to put on a festival of this caliber, and we also believe we can raise that level of support for each festival going forward, given the dedicated audience we have built.

From now through 2014 we expect to

  • Recruit additional board members with specific skills in finance, administration, and fundraising.
  • Improve our communication with and outreach to friends and donors.
  • Establish an annual giving club – our very own “Band-aid” to support VBF in planning as well as in festival years.
  • Extinguish the approximately $50,000 in debt we have accumulated.

By 2015 and 2016 we expect to

  • Hire our first part time administrator to manage preparations for the festival.
  • Program and present the 4th, and best yet, Vintage Band Festival 2016.

What the Vintage Band Festival Needs from Our Friends

  1. Board members with specific skills in finance, administration, and fundraising.  If you would like to nominate someone or volunteer, please let us know.
  2. Friends who will consider holding part of our accumulated deficit as no-interest loans for a period of two years while we negotiate payments and increase our fundraising capacity.
  3. Dedicated supporters who will pledge an annual gift to the Vintage Band Festival so we have adequate planning funds in the off years.  We especially appreciate annual gifts of $100, $500, or even $1,000 which can help us build a reliable income.
  4. Gifts of any amount now so we can build up an advance reserve fund for the 2016 Vintage Band Festival.

Thank you for your past support of the Vintage Band Festival.  You, our friends and audience, are a vital part of the Vintage Band Festival experience.

Paul Niemisto, Artistic Director

Jan Stevens, President of the Board of Directors

“Old-time bands bring the brass for Northfield festivals” via the Star Tribune

Read a recent article about the Vintage Band Festival in the Star Tribune here. (Written by Liz Rolfsmeier.)

“Band festival restores vintage sounds” via the Rochester Post-Bulletin

The Vintage Band Festival was recently mentioned in the Rochester Post-Bulletin. Read the article here. 

“Recalling History Through Its Sights and Sounds” via the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota

Read a recent blog post about the Vintage Band Festival via the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota here.

“Northfield’s Vintage Band Festival” via Minnesota Journeys

The Vintage Band Festival was recently mentioned in Minnesota Monthly as one of the top music events to attend this coming month, Aug. 1-4, under their calendar section titled, “The Agenda – What you need to do, see, and hear this month.” You can also read a full article on the upcoming festival here, compliments of writer Joel Schettler, of Minnesota Monthly’s Minnesota Journeys.

Vintage Band Festival 2013 at a Glance

THE VINTAGE BAND FESTIVAL is pleased to announce its third Vintage Band Festival will take place in Northfield, Minnesota on August 1-4, 2013. This international music festival is a four-day celebration featuring 30 bands from across the United States and abroad with 100 concerts showcasing a variety of genres, heritage influences and period-style performances.

• Ensembles participating in the Vintage Band Festival 2013 include some exciting international bands, nationally recognized vintage bands, Midwestern vintage ensembles and a number of Minnesota-based brass bands and community bands. For a complete list of the roster and links to individual band websites, visit vintagebandfestival.org.

• Auxiliary events surrounding the festival are: vintage baseball, ballroom-style dance, vaudeville entertainment, Battle of the Bands, Massed Civil War Bands Concert, Lunch Listen & Learn concerts, historical musical instrument exhibit, Sunday music in area churches, and the Early Brass Festival gathering of the Historic Brass Society (New York). All performances are free and open to the public, although financial donations are encouraged. Dress in vintage attire is usual, but not required.

• Events begin at noon each day. There are performances on the hour and every half hour at various venues throughout the city well into the evening. In observation of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, there will be a Battle of the Bands on the banks of the Cannon River.

• The Vintage Band Festival will also be collaborating with the Saturday morning Riverwalk Market Fair. Surrounding communities will also collaborate through satellite VBF performances. Events are scheduled in Dundas, Faribault, Owatonna, Cannon Falls, New Prague, Red Wing, Chatfield, New Ulm, Minneapolis and more.

 International Bands

• Oktetten Ehstedts Eftr (Stockholm Home Guard Band) – Sweden

• Medevi Brunnsorkester (Brass Sextet) – Sweden

• Eine Kleine DorfMusik (Bohemian Band) – Austria

• Original Drachenfelser Musikanten – Germany

American Bands

• Kentucky Baroque Trumpets – Kentucky

• Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (New Orleans & Delta Style) – Illinois

• Independent Silver Band (19th Century) – Illinois

• Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band (19th Century) – Maryland

• Dodworth Saxhorn Band (Civil War Era) – Michigan

• Kenny Carr and the Tiger Shout Band – North Carolina

• Lex-Ham Community Band – Minnesota

• Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Cowboy Band (Civil War) – Texas

• 26th North Carolina Regimental Band (Civil War) – Washington DC

• 1st Brigade Band (Civil War) – Wisconsin

• Century Brass Band (Civil War) – Minnesota

• Copper Street Brass Quintet – Minnesota

• North Star Vaudeville Orchestra – Minnesota

• Schell’s Hobo Band – Schnikelfritz – Minnesota

• Sheldon Theatre Brass Band (British Style) – Minnesota

• Dolce Woodwind Quintet – Minnesota

• Ameriikan Poijat (Finnish Brass Band) – Minnesota

• New Prague Area Community Band – Minnesota

• New Ulm Original German Band – Minnesota

• Brass Messengers (Balkan Band) – Minnesota

• Lake Wobegon© Brass Band (British Style) – Minnesota

• Jack Brass Band (New Orleans Style) – Minnesota

• Klezmerica (Klezmer Band) – Minnesota

• Mariachi mi Tierra Band – Minnesota

• Matterhorn Alphorns – Minnesota

• Minnesota State Band – Minnesota

• The Bavarian Musikmeisters – Minnesota

• WindWorks Quintet – Minnesota

• Swing and a Miss – Minnesota

The Vintage Band Festival 2013 is a non-partisan, non-profit community organization.

For the complete schedule and bios, visit www. vintagebandfestival.org.

Pre-Festival/Media Day

Media are welcome to a series of international band performances taking place on July 31, as part of the VBF’s pre-festival activities.

Please see the following:

Lunch, Listen & Learn #1: Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band *

12:00 pm – 12:50 pm    Contented Cow Pub, Northfield MN

*Call 651-470-0028 to reserve a complimentary meal ticket.

Medevi Brunnsorkester (Sweden)

3:00 pm – 3:50 pm     Archer House Riverfront Gazebo, Northfield MN

Medevi Brunnsorkester (Sweden)

7:00 pm – 7:50 pm      Grace Lutheran Church, Nerstrand MN

Eine Kleine Dorfmusik Kapelle (Austria)

8:00 pm – 8:50 pm      Contented Cow Pub, Northfield MN

Original Drachenfesler Musikanten (Germany)

8:00 pm – 8:50 pm      J. Grundy’s Rueb’n’Stein, Northfield MN

Media are also welcome to attend a reception at the Northfield Historical Society celebrating donors, foreign guests, and volunteers.  Hors d’oeuvres and refreshments will be served starting at 5:30 p.m.

Photography and interviews with international vintage band performers and Artistic Director Dr. Paul Niemisto are available on this date and throughout the festival.

Further questions, call 651-470-0028. Press information is here.