Flandreau City band will celebrate 15th anniversary on June 15

Concert series opens this Thursday

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The Flandreau City Band will celebrate its 15th anniversary this month with a concert at the city band shell on the east edge of Flandreau.

On June 15 at 7 p.m., the band will host a concert and play song choices and suggestions from the band members themselves.

The idea for bringing back the city band came up when three siblings who grew up in Flandreau retired from their various professions and moved back to town.

They discussed the possibility of reviving the Flandreau City Band, which had not been active for over 20 years.

JoAnn Edwards, Larry Anderson, Barbara Anderson and her husband Erik Ferguson joined the Lennox Municipal Band in 2002.

“At this point we decided if Lennox, as small as it is, could have a city band, why couldn’t Flandreau?” Barbara Anderson said.

The first thing they had to do was find a band director. Steve Solem, director of the Flandreau High School band at that time, agreed to direct the city band.

Next came two most difficult tasks: raising money and finding musicians.

Edwards called everyone she knew and asked them to play in the band. Barbara Anderson said they would ask and sometimes “beg” people to play.

The first concert for the revitalized Flandreau City Band took place on June 5, 2003, on the veranda of the Moody County Courthouse.

Many Flandreau residents attended the concert, either setting up their lawn chairs or listening from the curb in their parked cars.

At this time, the band was made up of 13 musicians with only two pieces of music.

“When we started this we nominated ourselves as officers,” Edwards said. “We knew what we wanted and we had a plan.”

This plan included a band shell, for which the band had to raise $25,000.

In 2006, the First National Bank of Sioux Falls established a grant where the band would receive $2 for every $1 they raised, up to a maximum of $50,000.

Edwards said they sent over 3,000 letters to alumni, friends and relatives, left boxes on the street for donations and held bake sales.

“We did anything we could think of to raise money,” Edwards said.

In the end, the band raised over $29,000 with 334 contributors from 36 states. This qualified them for the grant, but also provided enough extra funds to purchase chairs, music stands and sheet music.

The band shell was constructed in fall 2007 and the Flandreau City Band performed its first concert there on June 1, 2008.

Solem directed the band for four years, with the help of Mary Beth Sutton directing during rehearsals and several concerts throughout 2005 and 2006.

Deidre Sirvas, Solem’s daughter, played with the band from the beginning, taking a hiatus for a few years while she finished college and got married.

She rejoined about five years ago and has been president of the city band for three years.

“Something my dad has always told me is if we want this city band to survive, the younger generation has to take over as the officers and board members,” Sirvas said. “I think that’s a great tradition and I wanted it to continue.”

Over the years, the band has grown from 13 to over 60 musicians and from two pieces of music to over 150.

Members of the band travel from 10 surrounding communities, including Brookings and Sioux Falls.

Ages of members range from early teens to adults in their 80s, including Edwards. She began playing at school in Flandreau when she was 12 and continues playing tenor saxophone to this day, at age 82.

Since 2007, Pat Weight has directed the Flandreau City Band as well as directing the high school and middle school bands at Flandreau Public Schools.

With Weight directing, the band has begun to incorporate more modern tunes into their lineup for the younger generations, including songs from Wicked and Harry Potter.

“Pat is really good at doing concerts; he does theme concerts,” Sirvas said. “This summer we’re doing a Christmas in July concert. We’re doing an audience choice concert that I’m really looking forward to.”

The band’s first concert of the summer season is June 8 with the final show of the season, dedicated to the American Cancer Society, taking place in August.

“We told them early on we’re here for the long haul,” Barbara Anderson said. “ … We thought, let’s bring it back to basics. Take it away from the news headlines.”

On Thursday, June 15, at 7 p.m. the Flandreau City Band will be playing a concert in celebration of their 15th anniversary. Any and all are encouraged to attend and enjoy an evening of fun, listening to the talented and dedicated musicians who make up this group.