Bob Foos
For the first time in more than 70 years, a community band will soon be playing in the bandstand in Memorial Park.
Reviving the Past is the name of the concert, which will be presented by the Heartland Concert Band in collaboration with the Webb City Area Genealogical Society at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18.
The idea came about after two people relatively new to the area, Karen Aubuger and Amber Dole, read Bill Caldwell’s Sept. 19 column in the Joplin Globe about Robert Toutz Jr.’s direction of bands in Webb City, from the time he was in high school, for 30 years.
“That’s what got us started,” says Karen about the article.
Karen and Amber can be found regularly on the third floor of the Webb City Public Library as volunteers for the genealogical society. Karen was going through Webb City Historical Society relics that had been moved from the Clubhouse when she became intrigued by items from the days when community concerts were popular in Webb City.
They thought it would be wonderful to revive the concert in the park.
As it happens, Amber is president of the Heartland Concert Band. She primarily plays the flute and piccolo. She polled her fellow members, and they said yes.
The concert will coincide with Webb City’s 150th year and Route 66’s 100th year. “It seemed like a good year” to hold the concert, Amber says.
As Caldwell states in his column, bands were so popular in Webb City that citizens supported the Webb City Municipal Band with a property tax – even through the Depression.
Among the items Karen found was a stack of half-sheet-size questionnaires from 1931 asking prospective band members if they could play or would they need instruction. Did they have an instrument?
There are handwritten ledgers indicating which members paid 75¢ for instruction books, when they performed and how much they got paid.
A real prize among it all is the intricately designed baton that can be seen being held by conductor Harry Hulett in a photo of the Citizens Band, which was organized in 1896.
Amber says the baton will be used for one song during the upcoming concert, likely for the “Star-Spangled Banner.”
Other WCAGS members are supporting Karen and Aubry by finding out more about the history of the long-ago Webb City bands to share at the concert.
It will be a varied program. Some numbers have been selected to represent what the original bands played. There are old programs to verify what songs they played. Two numbers by Joplin-born composer Percy Wenrich will be included.
Amber says the band has commissioned a piece featuring the cities on Route 66, and there will be a tribute to Elvis Presley.
Unlike the Webb City Municipal Band members, the Heartland Concert Band’s 45 to 50 musicians volunteer their time. They rehearse Thursday nights in the Memorial (High School) Education Center auditorium, at 825 S. Pearl Avenue.
The concert will be free to attend, however donations will be collected to benefit the Webb City High School and Middle School bands.
Karen and Amber encourage everyone to bring lawn chairs and learn about the history of Webb City and its municipal band.
