As a very young boy, about age 5, I remember walking with my Aunt Pearl from our house on Ellsworth Street south to the subway, through Burlington Square Park and to town every Thursday evening. Both my mom and dad played in the Naperville Municipal Band. Back then, summer band concerts started at 8:15PM and usually ended about 10PM!
Aunt Pearl and I always stopped at Andy’s Popcorn Shop on Main Street at Van Buren. We always got two bags of popcorn, 10 cents each, and then walked over to Central Park for the concert.
Back in those early days, there was no television. Thursday night concerts were the highlight of live entertainment in Naperville. A typical concert consisted of about four or five specialty acts intermixed with the band’s playing in between acts.
There were vocal solos, the Aurora Festival Chorus, Willy Nekker and His Trained Dalmatians, baton twirlers and sometimes guest entertainers from Chicago and even Ringling Brothers Circus!
After the concert, Aunt Pearl and I, along with my mom, would walk to Oswald’s soda fountain for a chocolate soda. Then we’d walk home. This ritual was like weekly standard of operation for my family.
My first appearance on the stage was playing bass drum with the band at age five. I played my first tuba solo with the band in 1951. The rest of the summer was usually spent swimming at Centennial Beach, mowing the lawn, hoeing the garden and spending a couple weeks on Grandpa Keller’s farm!
After the end of World War II, men from Naperville who were members of the band returned and the concerts continued. The band improved when they all got back!
One of the specialty acts that I remember was a roller skater who picked up a member of the band. The skater went into a rapid spin-around and about the third time around, his pants few off and everyone split laughing. The band person was my dad!
It’s interesting to remember all these things because the summer used to last longer than it does now! Everything seems to move much faster in 2021 than it did in 1950. So much for growing old!
Enjoy the Naperville Municipal Band concerts this summer and let’s try to have a great summer this year!
Editor’s Note / The big stage door on the Community Concert Center is set to go up to launch the 11-week summer concert season at 7:30PM on Thurs., June 10. Naperville Municipal Band Concerts are free of charge. Local protocols will be followed. Some aspects will be different during the 2021 season. Bake sales hosted by local nonprofits will continue in the Gazebo.
Everybody is welcome to come listen to the upbeat music performed by the band that dates back to 1859. Be ready for another opening, another show “just because it’s June, June, June!”
