(Note: The picture above was taken in Laurelville, 2013)
HISTORY-NARRATIVE:
HISTORY-NARRATIVE:
Probably the most appropriate way to start the narrative portion of the history of The Adelphi Community Band is to repeat how they were introduced at the Main Stage in the 1992 Columbus, Ohio "Ameriflora" celebration:
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"a piece of Americana!"
"represent what is truly American Heritage"
"represents the true community spirit that is found in community bands!"
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WHERE THE BAND GOES (or HAS GONE):
Through the years, the band has played for:
and....well, you get the picture.
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"a piece of Americana!"
"represent what is truly American Heritage"
"represents the true community spirit that is found in community bands!"
==============================================================================================
WHERE THE BAND GOES (or HAS GONE):
Through the years, the band has played for:
- 100th Birthday Party (yes...really!),
- 4-H Club Picnics,
- Adelphi Bologna Festivals,
- Adelphi Carnivals,
- Adena Medical Center 100 Year Anniversary (1995)
- Airport Dedications,
- Amanda Village Square concerts,
- Apartment Building Dedication,
- Apple Festivals,
- Arts Festivals,
- Ashville (Ohio) Gazebo Concert Series,
- Baton twirling contests (both Preliminaries and Finals),
- Bean Bakes,
- Bean dinners,
- Bellings, (Google it)
- Bicentennial celebrations,
- Birthday parties,
- Bremen Octoberfest,
- Canal Days,
- Car Shows,
- Centennial Celebrations,
- Chillicothe City Park Concert Series,
- Chillicothe Downtown Mall Dedication (1967),
- Chillicothe "Holiday on Water Street" (1957),
- Chillicothe Kiwanis,
- Chillicothe VA Flower Show,
- Christmas parades,
- Church Field Days,
- Church Socials,
- Circleville Fall Festival and Tour of Homes,
- Circleville Sidewalk Sales,
- City fund raisers,
- Civil War Survivor from Ross County (1941, he was one of the last 2 from Ross County, and was turning 98)
- Coal Festivals,
- Columbus Ameriflora Celebration,
- Commercial Point Homecoming,
- Company Anniversaries,
- Company Picnics,
- Concerts in Parks,
- Deer Creek Dam Days,
- Delta Queen Riverboat (1999, Saluting them as they pass the Middleport Levee)
- Democratic Rallies
- Demolition Derbies
- Dogwood Festivals,
- Eastland Mall (Columbus),
- Esmeralda Canning Company Picnic, (1944)
- Fairfield County Fair,
- Fall Festivals,
- Fall Festivals of Leaves,
- Family Reunions,
- Feast of the Flowering Moon,
- Field Days,
- Firehouse Dedication,
- Fireman's Festivals,
- Fish fries (my personal FAVORITE type of band job),
- Flag raisings,
- Flag lowerings,
- 4th of July Festivals,
- 50th Anniversary of Film Opening in Lancaster,
- Fish Fries,
- Flag Day,
- Flower Shows,
- Fun Days,
- Geranium Festivals,
- Great American Brass Band Concert Series,
- Greenfield "Countrie Town Festival" (1977..no that is NOT a typo)
- Governor Inauguration Ceremonies (Ohio),
- Halloween Parades,
- Harness races,
- Hocking County Fair,
- "Holiday on Water Street" in Chillicothe (1957)
- Holiday Rambler Summer Festival (Ross County Fair Grounds),
- Homecoming Celebrations,
- Ice Cream Socials (Mmmmm....ice cream!)
- Improved Order of Red Men (IOORM),
- Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF),
- Indian Summer Festivals,
- Kingston "Tour of Homes",
- Kingston Summerfest,
- Knights of Pythias,
- Labor Day Festivals and Parades,
- Lancaster Music Festival,
- Laurelville Centennial Celebration (1971),
- Laurelville Community Hall,
- Logan Armistice Day Parade,
- Logan Elm Tree Ceremony,
- Logan Sesquicentennial (1966),
- Mead (Paper) Corporation Centennial Celebration (1946),
- Memorial Day Observances,
- Mining and Manufacturing Festivals,
- Motorcade for Vice-President Richard Nixon (1956),
- Moonshine Festivals (yes....really!),
- Mt. Sterling Gold Ole Days,
- Music Festivals,
- "Music of the Little Cities" live stage show!
- New Holland Fall Fest,
- Northwest Territory Pageant,
- Octoberfests,
- Ohio Historical Society observances at Ohio Village (Columbus),
- Old Car Club events,
- Opening Ceremonies,
- Otterbein Home (Lebanon, Ohio),
- Ox Roast,
- Pickaway County Fair,
- Pickaway County Historical Society,
- Picnic for 170 Glider Pilots from Lockbourne (1942)
- Pike County Fair,
- Pioneer Heritage Days,
- Political parades and rallies,
- Presidential candidates at the Columbus airport,
- Professional Baseball Games,
- Pumpkin Shows,
- Relay for Life (Cancer Fund Raisers)
- Republican Rallies,
- Rest Homes,
- Richmondale Festival,
- River Boats on the Ohio River,
- Ross County Medical Center 100th Anniversary,
- Ross County Fair,
- Ross County Picnic,
- Salt Creek School Fair,
- Salt Creek Valley Festival,
- School events,
- School Levys,
- Sedalia July 4th Celebration (1953),
- Selling War Bonds (6-14-1944),
- Serenade a Judge,
- Senior Centers,
- Serenade Newlyweds,
- Sesquicentennial Celebrations,
- Soil and Water Conservation Events,
- Soldiers Returning from Puerto Rico (1898),
- Soya Festivals,
- Special Olympics,
- State Fairs,
- Strawberry Festivals,
- Streetscape celebrations,
- Summer Festivals,
- Sunflower Festivals,
- Tarlton Fish Fry,
- Tarlton Homecoming and Carnival,
- U.S Veteran's Hospital (1926)
- Vinton County Centennial Celebration (1950),
- Violet Festivals,
- War Equipment Parade (1944),
- Waverly Canal Days,
- Wedding anniversaries,
- Westland Mall (Columbus)
- Wild Turkey Festivals (no...not the drinkin' kind, the kind you eat),
- Yellowbud Ox Roast (1941)
- Zane Trace Heritage Days,
- Zucchini Festivals,
and....well, you get the picture.
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HOW OLD IS THE BAND?
But on top of that, just think about the different cultural, social, and economic times the band has lived through and has continued performing.
Let's face it.
The Adelphi Community Band is old!
It was started in 1880!
Not "older-than-dirt" old, but the band started playing music:
1. Just 15 years AFTER the end of the Civil War (1865)
2. BEFORE sliced bread (prototype machine in 1912),
3. BEFORE the Model-T Ford (1908),
4. BEFORE the Wright Brothers first flights at Kitty Hawk (1903),
5. AFTER Edison patented his first incandescent light bulb (1879),
6. The SAME year as peanut butter was invented (1880),
7. BEFORE the first mechanical cash register (1884),
8. BEFORE Cotton Candy (1897)
9. BEFORE the Ferris Wheel (1893)
10. BEFORE the Gunfight at the OK Corral (1881, Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp and his two brothers, Morgan and Virgil. )
11. BEFORE Coca Cola (Coke) (1886)
12. BEFORE the first paper drinking straw (1888),
13. BEFORE basketball was invented (1891),
14. BEFORE the Statue of Liberty (dedicated by Grover Cleveland on October 28th , 1886)
15. BEFORE the Washington Monument (1885)
16. BEFORE the Eiffel Tower (1889)
17. BEFORE Billy the Kid is captured by Pat Garrett (1881)
18. The SAME year as the following celebrities were born: Hellen Keller, Tom Mix, Douglas MacArthur, and W.C. Fields.
19. BEFORE the following celebrities were born in 1890: Dwight Eisenhower, Colonel Saunders (yes...THAT one), Jelly Roll Morton, Stan Laurel, Grocho Marx, and Eddie Rickenbacker.
20. AFTER the telephone (patent in 1876),
21. BEFORE Buffalo Bill opened his first "Wild West Show" (1883),
22. BEFORE John Phillip Sousa left the Marine Band and started his first band (1892),
23. BEFORE John Phillip Sousa wrote "Stars and Stripes Forever" (1896)
24. The SAME year as "The Circleville Tarlton and Adelphi Telegraph Company" was founded (dissolved by 1914).
25. and DEFINITELY BEFORE Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Blogs, Google, and when the word "Amazon" meant something totally different than most people think of today.
Wow!........ Just imagine that kind of history!
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OTHER AREA BANDS
However, The Adelphi Community Band has lasted through times when, not only did the larger cities had community bands, but many of the smaller ones as well. And then there were also bands sponsored by companies like the Mead Paper plant (Chillicothe, but has been bought and sold many times with different operating names) as well as by various social and civic groups.
In fact, the July 1984 publication by the Chillicothe Jaycees titled "Old Fashioned 4th of July Celebration" lists that the bands in the area at one time included (and this is just a PARTIAL list!):
1. Chillicothe Band (established 1825),
2. The German Band (established @ 1840),
3. Chillicothe's 73rd Regiment Brass Band (established after the Civil War),
4. Andy DeCamp's Cotillon Band (established @ 1868),
5. Charlie Quinn's String Band (established by 1863),
6. The Borneville Cornet Band (established in the 1870's),
7. The Chillicothe Mechanic's Cornet Band (established @ 1875),
8. Neely's Band (established in the 1870's),
9. By 1873, in general, there were 7 brass bands in Ross County, to include 3 in Chillicothe, 1 in Adelphi, 1 in Massieville (south of Chillicothe), 1 in Bainbridge, and 1 in Bourneville.
10. Phil Kunzelman German Brass Band (possibly not their official name, established in the 1870's),
11. August Kutsch German Brass Band (possibly not their official name, established in the 1870's) ,
12. The Buckeye Band (Bainbridge, Ohio)
13. Londonderry Cornet Band (established by 1894),
14. Ladies Mandolin Club (established in the 1890's),
15. Kirchenschlager's Orchestra (established 1879),
16. Clarksburg Band (established by 1910),
17. Odd Fellows Band (established by 1894),
18. The Mead Pulp and Paper Company Band (established by 1921),
19. Chillicothe Grange Orchestra (established by 1825),
20. Citizen's Cadet Band (established by 1899),
21. 20th Century Band (established by 1903), and the
22. Independent Order of the Odd Fellows Band (established in 1919)
Whew!
=============================================================================================
HOW OLD IS THE BAND?
But on top of that, just think about the different cultural, social, and economic times the band has lived through and has continued performing.
Let's face it.
The Adelphi Community Band is old!
It was started in 1880!
Not "older-than-dirt" old, but the band started playing music:
1. Just 15 years AFTER the end of the Civil War (1865)
2. BEFORE sliced bread (prototype machine in 1912),
3. BEFORE the Model-T Ford (1908),
4. BEFORE the Wright Brothers first flights at Kitty Hawk (1903),
5. AFTER Edison patented his first incandescent light bulb (1879),
6. The SAME year as peanut butter was invented (1880),
7. BEFORE the first mechanical cash register (1884),
8. BEFORE Cotton Candy (1897)
9. BEFORE the Ferris Wheel (1893)
10. BEFORE the Gunfight at the OK Corral (1881, Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp and his two brothers, Morgan and Virgil. )
11. BEFORE Coca Cola (Coke) (1886)
12. BEFORE the first paper drinking straw (1888),
13. BEFORE basketball was invented (1891),
14. BEFORE the Statue of Liberty (dedicated by Grover Cleveland on October 28th , 1886)
15. BEFORE the Washington Monument (1885)
16. BEFORE the Eiffel Tower (1889)
17. BEFORE Billy the Kid is captured by Pat Garrett (1881)
18. The SAME year as the following celebrities were born: Hellen Keller, Tom Mix, Douglas MacArthur, and W.C. Fields.
19. BEFORE the following celebrities were born in 1890: Dwight Eisenhower, Colonel Saunders (yes...THAT one), Jelly Roll Morton, Stan Laurel, Grocho Marx, and Eddie Rickenbacker.
20. AFTER the telephone (patent in 1876),
21. BEFORE Buffalo Bill opened his first "Wild West Show" (1883),
22. BEFORE John Phillip Sousa left the Marine Band and started his first band (1892),
23. BEFORE John Phillip Sousa wrote "Stars and Stripes Forever" (1896)
24. The SAME year as "The Circleville Tarlton and Adelphi Telegraph Company" was founded (dissolved by 1914).
25. and DEFINITELY BEFORE Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Blogs, Google, and when the word "Amazon" meant something totally different than most people think of today.
Wow!........ Just imagine that kind of history!
====================================================================================================
OTHER AREA BANDS
However, The Adelphi Community Band has lasted through times when, not only did the larger cities had community bands, but many of the smaller ones as well. And then there were also bands sponsored by companies like the Mead Paper plant (Chillicothe, but has been bought and sold many times with different operating names) as well as by various social and civic groups.
In fact, the July 1984 publication by the Chillicothe Jaycees titled "Old Fashioned 4th of July Celebration" lists that the bands in the area at one time included (and this is just a PARTIAL list!):
1. Chillicothe Band (established 1825),
2. The German Band (established @ 1840),
3. Chillicothe's 73rd Regiment Brass Band (established after the Civil War),
4. Andy DeCamp's Cotillon Band (established @ 1868),
5. Charlie Quinn's String Band (established by 1863),
6. The Borneville Cornet Band (established in the 1870's),
7. The Chillicothe Mechanic's Cornet Band (established @ 1875),
8. Neely's Band (established in the 1870's),
9. By 1873, in general, there were 7 brass bands in Ross County, to include 3 in Chillicothe, 1 in Adelphi, 1 in Massieville (south of Chillicothe), 1 in Bainbridge, and 1 in Bourneville.
10. Phil Kunzelman German Brass Band (possibly not their official name, established in the 1870's),
11. August Kutsch German Brass Band (possibly not their official name, established in the 1870's) ,
12. The Buckeye Band (Bainbridge, Ohio)
13. Londonderry Cornet Band (established by 1894),
14. Ladies Mandolin Club (established in the 1890's),
15. Kirchenschlager's Orchestra (established 1879),
16. Clarksburg Band (established by 1910),
17. Odd Fellows Band (established by 1894),
18. The Mead Pulp and Paper Company Band (established by 1921),
19. Chillicothe Grange Orchestra (established by 1825),
20. Citizen's Cadet Band (established by 1899),
21. 20th Century Band (established by 1903), and the
22. Independent Order of the Odd Fellows Band (established in 1919)
Whew!
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HOW DID THE BAND GET THIS OLD?
This leads to the question: "WHY has The Adelphi Community Band survived and NONE of these other groups did?"
Our answer to that question is pretty simple............... we don't know.
However, if you ask the musicians who have stayed in the band, including some who have played in the band for OVER 70 years, you will probably generally get answers like they like the social aspect of getting together with friends and family members, and that they definitely like the music the band plays...... a play list of almost exclusively the classic marches, circus music, serenades, and waltzes from the late 1880's to the early 1900's that is unfortunately duplicated by few other community groups.
Hearing a community band play a medley from some recent, popular musical or movie is certainly good for some. And we like to listen to them too, on occasion. But that is definitely not the music that we like to play.
Sometimes, you just have a need to hear "Lassus Trombone", "Circus Bee", "Rolling Thunder", "Colonel Bogey" , "Trombone King", "Carrolton March", "Sons of Veterans", "March Grandioso", played at "circus speed" by a band in a park while you sit under a shade tree with your tall-backed lawn chair (the one you specifically bought so that you could take a nap in it if you needed) and holding a cold refreshment.
As for my reasons to have stayed with the band this long, I'm pretty sure they include everything said above, plus the words "Fish Sandwich!"
Life is good. Go listen to a community band.
====================================================================================================
This leads to the question: "WHY has The Adelphi Community Band survived and NONE of these other groups did?"
Our answer to that question is pretty simple............... we don't know.
However, if you ask the musicians who have stayed in the band, including some who have played in the band for OVER 70 years, you will probably generally get answers like they like the social aspect of getting together with friends and family members, and that they definitely like the music the band plays...... a play list of almost exclusively the classic marches, circus music, serenades, and waltzes from the late 1880's to the early 1900's that is unfortunately duplicated by few other community groups.
Hearing a community band play a medley from some recent, popular musical or movie is certainly good for some. And we like to listen to them too, on occasion. But that is definitely not the music that we like to play.
Sometimes, you just have a need to hear "Lassus Trombone", "Circus Bee", "Rolling Thunder", "Colonel Bogey" , "Trombone King", "Carrolton March", "Sons of Veterans", "March Grandioso", played at "circus speed" by a band in a park while you sit under a shade tree with your tall-backed lawn chair (the one you specifically bought so that you could take a nap in it if you needed) and holding a cold refreshment.
As for my reasons to have stayed with the band this long, I'm pretty sure they include everything said above, plus the words "Fish Sandwich!"
Life is good. Go listen to a community band.
====================================================================================================