Whatever your age, there will be an old or new favorite for everyone this Labor Day weekend, when the Great Geauga County Fair Band returns for its 78th season to the Great Geauga County Fair. Performances will take place at the Burton, Ohio fairgrounds from September 1st through 5th. They will be playing at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Thursday, at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and at 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on Labor Day. The Junior Fair Band will be performing on September 3rd at 11:30 a.m. and on September 5th at noon.
Band Director, Greg Hillis, is excited to be introducing a number of new selections to fair audiences, including John Williams’ Olympic Fanfare and Theme, in honor of the Summer Olympics currently underway, selections from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I, which will be coming to Playhouse Square in the spring, and a medley from the Disney classic “Mary Poppins.”
Popular soloists Lindsey Sandham Leonard and Vanessa Pintobona will be entertaining audiences with a variety of popular and Broadway favorites. Tom Lempner will be performing alto saxophone solos in the Serenade for Alto Sax by Frank Bencriscutto and in the jazz classic, Harlem Nocturne. Tom is a faculty member at Baldwin-Wallace University and Cleveland State University. A tuba solo from Divertimento for Tuba will be performed by Tony DiDonato. The divertimento is a recently composed piece by David Bobrowitz.
The Great Geauga County Fair Band played its first performance at the fair in 1938. About half of its members reside in Geauga County, with the remainder living in Lake and other surrounding counties. For many of the musicians, playing with the band is a family affair, with more than a third of the band members having a sibling, spouse, child or other family member playing alongside them. Its two newest members are a mother and daughter from Mentor who play in the flute section. The band includes many gifted musicians, with two-thirds of its members playing in other musical groups throughout the year and about half accomplished on more than one instrument. For more information, visit www.geaugafairband.com.
The band’s history is closely linked to that of the Great Geauga County Fair, from which it takes its name, making these Labor Day weekend concerts the highlight of every season. Schedules for all fair activities can be found at geaugafair.com.
This article is brought to you by The Great Geauga County Fair
