Burlington Iowa Municipal Band

The Burlington Municipal Band plays a one hour concert each week during the summer. Most of our concerts take place at the band shell in beautiful Crapo Park, overlooking the Mississippi River. While the band concerts begin at 7:30 PM, there is occasionally other entertainment preceding the concert, and families are encouraged to come early to enjoy the fine summer evening in the park.

Occasionally inclement weather forces the cancellation of our concerts. News of concert cancellations is broadcast on a number of local radio stations, and many of our concerts are broadcast live over KBUR at 1490 on your AM dial. New for 2001, concert cancellations will also be posted here on this web site.

We are interested in finding additional photos of the band or band members which have historic or human interest value to include on this web page. If you have such a photo or photos, and would be willing to share them, please contact Jim Priebe at 752-7305. You will, of course, get the photo back unharmed, and we will gladly credit our source.

Each year, the band has openings for a few musicians. If you are interested in becoming a member of the Burlington Municipal Band, contact Mark Eveleth by telephone at (319) 753-6900 or by e-mail at evelethm@home.com.

The Burlington (Iowa) Municipal Band is a community concert band which has served and enriched the life of this city for seventy years. The band's first concert was presented in Crapo Park in May of 1927 after the citizens of Burlington had expressed the desire that such a band be formed. The band's roots extend back to the nineteenth century since it was formed through the combining of the existing Orchard City Band and the privately operated Fischer's Band under the leadership of J. Henri Fischer, a prominent musician of the era.

The band today enjoys a membership from a wide variety of backgrounds. The band contains homemakers, physicians, music teachers, business men and women, ministers, retired people, college students, and a few outstanding high school musicians. All share the common enjoyment of playing their instruments and providing the community with a wholesome family activity.

With continued support from the City of Burlington, and with additional corporate support from Midwest Federal Savings and Loan, the Municipal Band continues to perform free Sunday evening concerts in Crapo Park during the summer months. These concerts are presented from 7:30 until 8:30 P.M. at the Crapo Park Bandshell, located on Grandview Drive within the park. This site provides concert goers a magnificent view of the Mississippi River and the Illinois farmlands spread below, and a wide lawn where listeners can choose to sit on park benches provided near the bandshell, or bring their own lawn chairs or blankets, perhaps to sit near the illuminated Foehlinger Fountain. The concerts are well attended by people of all ages, and many visitors to Burlington make it a point to return each summer to hear at least one concert. Again this season the concerts are being broadcast live by radio station KBUR AM 1490.

This website is now maintained by members of the Burlington Municipal Band.

We thank the staff at the Burlington Public Library for the original site design.

Questions and/or comments can be directed to -- webmaster@muniband.org

Members of the band are enjoying our concert season. We hope that you will join us regularly. We'd love for you to make "summer Sunday evenings at the bandshell" a family tradition. See you Sunday!

We also hope that you will continue to support live musical performances throughout the year by attending and supporting the music departments of our area school systems, the Southeast Iowa Band, the Southeast Iowa Symphony and other local musical organizations.

The selections will include: Sounds of Simon and Garfunkel by Paul Simon and arranged by James H. Burden, including The Sound of Silence, Mrs. Robinson, Scarborough Fair/Canticle, Feelin' Groovy, and Bridge over Troubled Water; Festive Overture by Dmitri Shostakovich, arranged by Jay Bocook; Rollo Takes a Walk by David Maslanka; West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein arranged by W.J. Duthoit; A Copland Tribute by Aaron Copland, adapted by Clare Grundman; Pictures At An Exhibition by Modest Moussorgsky, transcribed by James Curnow; The Pink Panther by Henry Mancini, scored for band by John Warrington; The Syncopated Clock by Leroy Anderson; An English Celebration by James Swearingen; Fanfare and Processional by John Cacavas; and our traditional closing number, The Stars and Stripes Forever by Sousa.

Our July 8 concert was the second concert so far this season that had to be cancelled "in progress" due to rain, and we our sorry. Audience members at that concert can attest to the fact that we make every effort to continue, even in the face of light rain. Unfortunately, while some of our members and some of our instruments are impervious to the rain, rain wreaks havoc on other instruments, our sound system, and our printed music. Our cancellation decisions are therefore quite straightforward -- we do not perform in significant rain. In addition, heavy rain before a concert, soaking the ground, will generally lead to the concert being cancelled. Thank you for your understanding and continued support.

Our conductor this week is Mediapolis band director Loren Gunnison. Loren says his theme for this week's concert is "music he likes." We think you will enjoy the variety of selections he has chosen. They include symphonic selections, Broadway show music, novelty, and popular tunes.

The band would like to give special thanks to Captain Stewart and Officers Stirn and Zahn of the Burlington Police Department Honor Guard for presenting the colors at our concert July 1. Their precision and their "spit and polish" is a credit to the Police Department and a credit to Burlington.

ClasSax, Burlington's premiere saxophone ensemble, will be appearing with the band this week. The group will appear BEFORE the band concert, beginning at 6:30 P.M. Members of the group include: Ted Francis, soprano and alto sax; Wendy Zick, alto sax; Katie Lees and Tianna Streeter, tenor saxes; Darwin Lyons, baritone sax; Chris Crowner, piano; Ed Hart, guitar; Dean Lyons, bass; and David Scott, drums. We hope you can come early to hear their performance.