Highlights of an Evening in Barden Park

St. Cloud’s Barden Park hosted its last municipal band concert of the summer last night.  I wish I could have attended.  A jazz combo of high school and college students, directed by John Herdan, was scheduled to play at 6:30 p.m., followed by the St. Cloud Municipal Band.

Neighborhood resident and Barden Park Committee Chair Juliana Elchert said in an email promoting the event that the park’s flowers are lovely right now – plus, it was her birthday (Happy belated birthday, Juliana!), and she and her husband were on root beer float duty.  I hope they had a great turnout.

Elias enjoys a root beer float while seated next to his cousin, Sam, last summer.

Juliana invited my dad and me to speak at the park last summer before one of the band concerts.  Her email reminded me of what a great time the Riggs clan had at the event, where I presented some history about G. Oliver Riggs and his St. Cloud Municipal Boys’ Band, and my dad talked about his connections to the park and his stint playing with the band.  The emotional peak of the night for me was when Dad took out G. Oliver’s cornet and played it.  I don’t know how he was able to maintain his composure – I still get choked up now, thinking about how cool it was to hear him play his grandfather’s cornet in the park that contains so many Riggs family memories.

Thanks to my cousin Kristina and her husband Doug, I have video to share from that evening.  I have included some selected clips here (for more about that evening, you can read my post from last year, A Perfect Evening in “Riggs” Park).

An introduction/setting the scene:

The boys in the band, and G. Oliver’s legacy:

My dad’s municipal band experience, and G. Oliver’s cornet: