The Hampton Municipal Band began its 103rd season of performances Wednesday night with a concert at Band Shell Park.
Chris Sauke, the director of the Hampton Municipal Band, tells Radio on the Go News the band dates back to the 1920s.
*Sauke #1
“Iowa passed a law that allowed municipalities to use funding for the purpose of municipal bands so they could actually be paid. So Hampton was the second community in Iowa to start the municipal band behind Decorah. We’ve been going strong ever since. A couple of years ago we celebrated our hundredth season. Even during COVID, we managed to have a season. It looked a lot different but we were still able to have a couple concerts. That was kind of a fun year. We actually did a concert out at the assisted living and nursing home where we were still socially distanced, but it was kind of fun. So we were able to keep that going and we haven’t had a break since 1921 and we’re still going strong.”
Sauke says the band features approximately 50 members that come from a variety of places in the broadcast area.
*Sauke #2
“We’ve got a good core and we have players that come from a wide area around Hampton. We’ve got somebody that’s driving from the Mason City area. We’ve got some people that drive up from Iowa Falls. We’ve had people from over in the Greene, Allison area. So it’s quite a wide range that we draw people from. It’s great to bring everybody together, including the people from Hampton. And there’s just a really good solid core because of the strong history of the band. We’ve got a strong solid core of people that have played in the band for a number of years, including one performer who is, this will be her 65th year playing in the band. That’s pretty remarkable. So it’s a lot of fun to bring all ages and it’s a whole lot of fun just to be a part of it.”
The Hampton Municipal Band will perform a total of seven times this season, including performances at Band Shell Park during the Tuesday on the Town events in June with the performances starting at 8:00 p.m. each Tuesday in June.
