SEQUIM — The Sequim City Band will celebrate the opening of its 25th season with a performance at 3 p.m. Sunday.
The free concert will be at the James Center for the Performing Arts at Carrie Blake Park, 202 N Blake Ave.
The band’s director is Tyler Benedict, a low-brass musician, who has held the baton since 2013.
The concert will feature “Sunny Sequim March” and “Lavender Rag,” which were composed by the founding director, Chuck Swisher, to honor the Sequim-Dungeness Valley.
Also to be performed are “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina,” “Themes Like Old Times,” “I Want a Girl,” “Peg of My Heart, “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” and selections from “The Wizard of Oz.”
The band also is preparing a “soulful salute” as an encore.
Subsequent performances by the band — part of the Concerts at the James series — will be June 12, July 4, Aug. 9 and Sept. 13.
All performances begin at 3 p.m. and are free to the public.
The James Center is located at 563 N. Rhodefer Road, with parking available at Rhodefer Road to the east or Blake Road to the west.
The outdoor venue has limited seating, so organizers encourage attendees to bring chairs or blankets as well as refreshments.
“As the band opens its 25th season of outdoor concerts . . . about 60 musicians will fill the risers on the stage of the James Center,” said Vicky Blakesley, the band’s publicity director.
“The audience can enjoy the concert from blankets and lawn chairs, some with attached umbrellas to protect from the late afternoon sun, casually placed on the large grassy area in front of the stage.”
The grassy areas offer plenty of room for children to run and play prior to the concert, Blakesley said.
Band history
In the early 1990s, Swisher — a retired music teacher and director from Pullman — recruited fellow musicians and formed a concert band to play during the sunny summer months in Sequim, Blakesley said.
That original group consisted of 14 adult volunteers who embarked on regular monthly concerts, each with new programs.
The first program was in April 1992, with the band assembled under the cover of the picnic shelter in Carrie Blake Park.
As the band grew from those dozen-or-so pioneer musicians, the inspiration for a permanent outdoor performance venue came from band members and some loyal audience members, Blakesley said.
In 2003, interested citizens and band members joined forces and raised monies to build an outdoor performance stage and small rehearsal hall with storage space.
The groundbreaking was in June 2004 and the building was completed by early 2005.
The James Center is named for the majority donor, Rex James Bates, who died in March 2016.
For more information about the Sequim City Band and its performances, visit www.sequimcityband.org.
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Reporter Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56650, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
