Preview: Poway’s classics in the park: “Community Band Festival Event.”

Written for Me.

Ditch the horse buggy and revive your inner-renaissance-being, by driving your fine automobile to the Old Poway Park for fine dining and varieties of classical play. This Saturday and Sunday, Old Poway Park Action Committee Members: the Pomerado Community Band and the Poway Arts and Crafts Guild (PACG) and the City of Poway invite the public to this year’s annual, “Community Band Festival Event,” at Old Poway Park from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. May 19-20, 2012.

Band players will include the Pomerado Community Band, San Diego City Guard, San Diego Concert Band, First Kearny Mesa Concert Band, and many more. Fine arts will be available to the public, sponsored by the Poway Arts and Crafts Guild.    

“It is a time where people can sit back and enjoy the “Good old times.” A place where people can come to the park on a nice sunny day, eat food, listen to great music and meet great people,” Dean Hickman, Pomerado Community Band Conductor and Community Band Festival Event Coordinator, said.

This weekend’s event will attract 12 local bands as well as two military ensembles—the Southwest Navy Band and the First Marine Division. The Community Festival will also attract various other cultural groups including, the El Cajon German Band and opening ceremonies performed by the Boy Scout Troop 608.

According to Keith Seguine, tuba player of five other bands including the Pomerado Group, festivals are important because they make classical musical more visible and accessible to the public and players alike.

“It works out for everyone, we get to see what other bands are playing, and the community gets to see what we are playing,” Seguine said.  

This weekend’s music festival provides the community an opportunity to see spring’s musical and artistic community is doing at the Old Poway Park. During the, “Community Band Festival Event,” music enthusiasts, weekly park strollers and the public can meander around the Old Poway Park for a day of classic relaxation.

This theme is authenticated by the Poway Arts and Crafts Guild which members produce, “Jewelry, art, plates, pots, photography and cloths from the late 1800’s to early 1920’s,  Donald Leo, photography member of PACG, said. 

People like Leo come from all over the county to participate, ”In the finer arts once practiced before,” Hickman said. For example of Hick mans students travels all the way from La Mesa, to Mira Mesa once a week to be a part of the recreational program hosted by The Community Band. 

“Music sharpens the mind like homework, it makes one concentrated and accomplished,” Gyle Botteger said.

Botteger concentrates in a way, in which he uses three different trumpets for the same practice. One trumpet has a grip on all primary valves, while the others are variously muted. He openly celebrates the rebirth of brass instrumental play. According to Botteger, “it revives” the brain.

As we progress into more digital forms of entertainment, the popularity of classical bands and music remains uncertain. Hope still does remain, as crowds nearing the thousands are predicted for Saturdays and Sundays performances. To refine the cultural understandings of a simpler time, hear the trumpets play, the flutes whistle and the horns blare at The Old Poway Park this weekend starting May 19, 2012. at 11:00 a.m.

For a follow up story read, “Community Band Festival Review.”

-Thanks again for reading, Bryce Dunham-Zemberi