Band has long history of bringing community together

Ann Lord remembers when people would park their cars near the band shell and salute the Naperville Municipal Band with a few loud honks after a particularly rousing tune.

Those small-town days created small-town traditions that have carried on into today's bustling world - with virtually no traditions more sturdy than the Naperville Municipal Band.

"If you grew up in Naperville in those early days, everybody went to the concerts. That's just what everybody did. We were a small town," said Lord, 78, a Naperville native who has acted as the band's emcee for 52 years. "People met there. People visited there - even the young people. It became a Naperville tradition. It is a very, very different community today."

Celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, those closest to the band say they're proud to carry on what began as 15 men who informally practiced and played together in 1859.

As the years rolled on, the band gained more support. The band officially became the Naperville Municipal Band in 1928. Naperville taxpayers agreed in 1930 to support the band with the funds for uniforms and to build a band shell.

Now, several band shells later, the band has found a home in the Naperville Community Concert Center, completed in 2003 in Central Park.

And they've welcomed back more than 35 alumni to play a birthday concert to honor the organization's rich heritage.

Although Naperville has transformed from a farming community to a burgeoning city, the Naperville Municipal Band's concerts offer a window into that time when listening to the band was a night on the town.

For Lord, her experience with the band was a family affair. Her late husband, John, ran the band's sound system for 45 years.

"I think the fact that we were doing it together, it just became our family life," Lord said. "You get involved with that and the band family. We had picnics and social activities. We got to know a lot of people in the band and they became some of our friends."

Lord grew up listening to the band on summer nights and has since spent 57 total years with the band, with nearly 52 as the band's announcer.

Lord will pull double duty tonight when she will act as the concert's emcee as well as play a clarinet with the alumni band.

Over the years, she's watched as the band evolved from using several specialty acts in the late '30s through most of the '60s - similar to a variety show - to using very few outside acts today.

"As the band got bigger and better, we didn't want to have as many things interrupting," Director Ron Keller said. "We went to bringing in soloists or guest conductors rather than bringing in all different kinds of acts.'

A complete history of the band is written in the band's book, "The First 150 Years - A History of the Naperville Municipal Band." Written by Keller and Julie Phend, the book is on sale at every concert and at Anderson's Bookshop, 123 W. Jefferson Ave.

Those involved with the band believe it's a tradition that will continue for many years to come.

"We have a connection with the audience," Lord said. "It's been a good run."