The final summer concert of the Great Bend municipal band was Thursday evening and with the temperature below 90 a good crowd turned out. Grant Mathews was the director and Justin Engleman was the narrator of a program that embodied the spirit of City Bands over the decades.

Engleman said this was the 139th year of the Great Bend City Band.

There were marches and traditional tunes, as well as familiar modern music — in this case from the Star Wars franchise. The band paid tribute to the local heritage by playing the “Kansas Two-Step” by Arthur Pryor. (Side note, it took a minute to find the name of that composer on the internet. “Kansas Two-Step” today brings up something totally unrelated to music.)

A highlight of Thursday’s show was the band’s effort to incorporate audience participation. Everyone was invited to shout “Tequila!” at the appropriate times when the song by the same name was played. More to the point, the audience was invited to dance to “The Polina Polka” and the wedding dance staple, “The Chicken Dance.” There were already a few kids running around Lafayette Park — what we now call Jack Kilby Square — and a few families danced together. Most of the audience was older and opted for clapping or chair dancing, but one elderly woman smiled and stood up from her wheelchair, listening with a gleam in her eyes.

That’s when the concert became a moment for me. Dozens of people were together, listening to live music performed by their neighbors, sitting between a picturesque courthouse and a pristine community band shell, with shade trees all around. Some of the little ones grew restless and had the zoomies but some bobbled to the beat. Up on the stage, Engleman introduced “Snares On,” a piece featuring three women on snare drums. Debbie Koch has been with the City Band for more than 40 years. (Debbie and her husband Curtis, also a percussionist, are managing the band again this year.) She was joined by Taylor Clark Moore, Miss Kansas of 2021; and Reagan Ketch, a senior at Great Bend High School.

I knew what the final song would be. I played clarinet in the City Band for one summer and have attended the concerts for many years. Engleman said, “A City Band worth its salt would not finish out the season without a march by John Phillips Sousa.” The band played “The Thunderer,” “Manhattan Beach” and its signature closer, “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” There was a short reprise of “Stars and Stripes” after a standing ovation.

This is the kind of event that makes Great Bend a special place. Community involvement was a theme for the day. The concert came just after a candidate forum sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and League of Women Voters wrapped up at the Great Bend Senior Center. If you missed the forum, the livestream was recorded and can be found on Eagle Radio’s Great Bend Post website.

Speaking of community involvement, this morning we received a Letter to the Editor from Great Bend City Council member Davis Jimenez and it appears on Saturday, July 27, Opinion Page. Jimenez stopped by the Great Bend Tribune this morning to drop it off and said anyone who has any questions about city government should contact their city council members or come to a meeting.

The time we spend engaging in our community and the lives of others is time well spent. Remember to vote, even if you don’t think your candidate has a chance of winning. And remember to participate the next time you hear “The Chicken Dance,” even if all you can do is smile.