SEQUIM — Time to strike up the band? You bet.
The Sequim City Band uses George Gershwin’s well-known “Strike Up the Band” as its theme for its first concert of the summer season, set for 3 p.m. Sunday at the James Center for the Performing Arts, 506 N. Blake Ave.
This free concert will be the concluding musical event of the opening Crazy Callen weekend of the 128th Sequim Irrigation Festival. The festival’s Innovative Arts and Crafts Fair will be in full swing at the James Center on both Saturday and Sunday with festival vendors, food vendors and all-day musical entertainment.
Gershwin’s “Strike Up the Band” was written for the 1927 musical of the same name, and while the musical was not successful, city band members note that the song endured and was later featured in the Judy Garland-Mickey Rooney 1940 film.
The band fêtes the occasion with Randall Standridge’s 2016 piece “Celebration” and acknowledges the band’s recent move back to the James Center for its weekly rehearsals.
Another up-beat offering is Rossano Galante’s 2022 “Mischievous Behavior,” a composition with “comedic, playful themes, and pulsating rhythmic accompaniment.”
To balance the music stylings of the concert, the band will perform some sentimental favorites, including a medley of songs from “The Wizard of Oz” by Harold Arlen. Trumpet soloist Randy Stillwell — a former resident of the area and member of the Sequim City Band, who traveled from his home in New South Wales, will play with the band. Vicki Helwick will provide program notes for these pieces and more.
Attendees are encouraged to bring a lawn chair or blanket and join in the fun of Crazy Callen weekend, marking the beginning of Sequim’s summer festivities.
Other dates on the band’s summer series, all at 3 p.m., are Sunday, June 11; Tuesday, July 4; Sunday, Aug. 13; and Saturday, Sept. 9.
For more about the Sequim City Band, email to scb@sequimcityband.org or visit sequimcityband.org.
