Whetting Your Appetite for the Vintage Band Festival

The days continue to click toward the start of Northfield’s Vintage Band Festival 2013.

The festival—a four-day event that, according to its website, celebrates “the music and the instruments of past eras”— begins Thursday, Aug. 1.

More than 30 bands from around the world will perform roughly 100 concerts in venues around Northfield, as well as Nerstrand, Faribault, Cannon Falls, Owatonna, Red Wing, New Prague, Kasota, New Ulm, Minneapolis and Scandia.

Admission to the concerts will be free, but donations will be accepted to offset expenses.

Below are some tidbits to whet your appetite to next week’s festival.

BANDS FROM NEAR AND FAR

Here is a list of bands scheduled to perform, according to the festival website:

Bands from Minnesota:

• Century Brass Band
• Copper Street Brass Quintet
• North Star Vaudeville Orchestra
• Schell’s Hobo Band
• Sheldon Theatre Brass Band
• Dolcé Woodwind Quintet
• Ameriikan Poijat
• New Prague Area Community Band
• New Ulm Original German Band
• Brass Messengers
• Lake Wobegon© Brass Band
• Swing and a Miss
• Jack Brass Band
• Klezmerica
• Mariachi Mi Tierra Band
• Lex Ham Community Band
• Matterhorn Alphorns
• Minnesota State Band
• The Bavarian Musikmeisters
• WindWorks Quintet

Bands from Outside Minnesota:

• Kentucky Baroque Trumpets, Kentucky
• Oktetten Ehnstedts Eftr., Sweden
• Medevi Brunnsorkester, Sweden
• Eine Kleine DorfMusik Kapelle, Austria
• Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Illinois
• Original Drachenfelser Musikanten, Germany
• Independent Silver Band, Illinois
• Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band, Maryland
• Dodworth Saxhorn Band, Michigan
• Kenny Carr and the Tigers, North Carolina
• Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Cowboy Band, Texas
• Frontier Brigade Band, Texas
• 26th North Carolina Regimental Band, Maryland
• 1st Brigade Band, Wisconsin

FESTIVAL LOCATIONS IN NORTHFIELD

Here is a list of performance locations in Northfield. In case of inclement weather or excessive heat, performances will be moved indoors.

• Bridge Square
• Odd Fellows Park
• Central Park
• Way Park
• Northfield Ballroom
• Northfield Retirement Center
• Northfield Senior Center
• Three Links Chapel
• Northfield Library
• Archer House River Gazebo
• First United Church of Christ
• Contented Cow Pub
• VFW Club
• J. Grundy’s Rueb’n'Stein
• Eagles Club Hall
• A number of local churches in Northfield

FESTIVAL PREPARATIONS

• Festival headquarters will open on Bridge Square on Saturday, July 27. Tickets for several special events—Lunch, Listen and Learn events at the Contented Cow on July 31-Aug. 3, German Food and Music at the Northfield Senior Center on Aug. 4, 19th Century Cotillion Ball at the Northfield Armory on Aug. 3 and the Vaudeville Entertainment and Silent Moving Pictures show on Aug. 4—will be available there.

• A booth with festival information and merchandise has been operated on recent Saturday mornings at the Riverwalk Market Fair.

• Festival T-shirts and hats are on sale now at the Northfield Historical Society.

FESTIVAL WEBSITE

The festival website has a wealth of information about this year’s event, including:

• A schedule of events.
• Maps to venues.
• Official program.
• How To Donate and How To Volunteer.