Catch Vintage Band Fever

The countdown to Vintage Band Festival 2013 is at 77 days – it’s less than three months away! If you enjoy listening to world-class music, attending family-friendly summer festivals, and exploring cool small towns, make plans now to travel to Northfield, Minn., this summer – the town of Colleges, Cows and Cornets!

Thirty bands are scheduled to present 100 concerts during the four days of the international festival, showcasing a variety of genres, heritage influences and period-style performances. Some bands are making a return appearance, and others are new to the festival. Detailed information about the bands, links to their websites, samples of their music, and a searchable performance schedule are available on the festival website, vintagebandfestival.org.

New bands this year include Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Cowboy Band, from Texas (also known as the Frontier Brigade Band); the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, a New Orleans-style band composed of eight brothers from Chicago; and two bands from Sweden, Ehnstedt’s Octet and Medevi Brunnsorkester.

You can get a taste of the Swedish bands’ music by listening to this podcast, narrated by VBF artistic director Paul Niemisto.



Here’s another podcast, with samples of music from three heritage bands: the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Cowboy Band, the Independent Silver Band from Mt. Vernon, Illinois (directed by the esteemed William Reynolds, whom I befriended at the last VBF); and Amerikkan Poijat, a Finnish-American brass band founded by Niemisto.



Additional events planned for the festival include vintage base ball, a ballroom-style dance, vaudeville entertainment, and a Battle of the Bands on the banks of the Cannon River, commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War.

The Riverwalk Market Fair will be operating on the Saturday of the festival, and the Northfield Arts Guild will present Meredith Willson’s The Music Man on Aug. 2-4 (the second of three weekends of performances).

Independent Silver Band director William Reynolds meets vintage band director G. Oliver Riggs in August 2010.

The last two festivals, in 2006 and 2010, attracted audiences of 15,000 people, and we are expecting even more festival-goers this year because of the larger number of bands and the more extensive schedule. Events begin at noon each day, and performances will be on the hour and half hour at various venues throughout the city. Satellite concerts are scheduled in the surrounding communities of Dundas, Faribault, Owatonna, Cannon Falls, New Prague, Red Wing, Chatfield, New Ulm and Minneapolis.

All performances are free, but to cover expenses of the festival we encourage freewill donations. Those who donate a minimum of $25 will receive a handsome VBF 2013 pin. Donors at the $150 or $250 levels receive reservations to limited-seating events, invitations to special receptions, a T-shirt and a poster. For donation information, click here.

You can also buy cool VBF T-shirts and hats at the Northfield Historical Society gift shop, and they will soon be available for sale on the VBF website.

I serve on the VBF executive committee, so it’s exciting to see all the plans coming together for what I think will be the best festival yet. I am already trying to figure out how I can make it to as many concerts and events as possible!