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THE KING BAND SALUTES FLAG DAY:

The months of June and July will be busy and exciting ones for the Karl L. King Municipal Band of Fort Dodge IA. The band will be performing each Sunday evening, beginning June 4th through July 23rd, at the Karl L. King Band Shell in Oleson Park. The only exception will be the July 16th concert, which will need to move to a different site because of the Shellabration concert the night before.

The Karl L. King Municipal Band of Fort Dodge will continue their 2023 summer concert season on Sunday evening, June 11, with a concert at the Karl L. King Band Shell in Oleson Park. Concert time is 7:30 pm. There is no admission charge, courtesy of the City of Fort Dodge. In case of inclement weather, the concert may be cancelled.

The Good Shepherd Lutheran Church will again be selling homemade ice cream and fresh-baked cake before the concert, starting around 6:30 pm. Persons attending these concerts are reminded to bring along their own lawn chairs or blanket. No seating is provided.

Conductor of the Karl L. King Municipal Band is Jerrold P. Jimmerson, with Paul Bloomquist as the announcer. This concert will commemorate several musical milestones in America’s history, commented conductor Jimmerson, with music from the Revolutionary War time to today.

The concert features patriotic selections to celebrate the Flag Day observance on June 14. Marches on the evening program include Loyal Americans by Karl L. King, and National Emblem by E.E. Bagley.

Many selections will provide a slice of pure Americana, with a variety of patriotic and folk songs on the program to salute our American flag. The King Band will perform a medley of well-known standards with An American Celebration, which includes You’re a Grand Old Flag and Battle Hymn of the Republic. Also on the program is a collection of popular songs titled Homefront: Musical Memories of World War II, which audience members are certain to recognize and remember.

Special guest conductor for this concert will be Paul Bloomquist, director of bands at Iowa Central Community College and a long-time King Band member, who will fill in for Dan Cassady this week. He has chosen Concord by Clare Grundman as one of his selections. This medley is based on three traditional tunes from old New England – The White Cockade, William Billings’ America, and Yankee Doodle.

For his second selection, Mr. Bloomquist has chosen his father’s march, The Spinning Baton. The march was originally written by Marlan Bloomquist for national champion baton twirler Joyce Rice, a Greenfield IA native. At age 17, Ms. Rice was judged the best baton twirler in the world, defeating some 20,000 other young women. She went on to Iowa State University, where she was the featured twirler with the Marching Band. At this Sunday’s concert, this march will feature an area baton twirler, Hannah Jenson, from Algona.

Featured vocalist Roger Netz, from Manson, will perform another of America’s favorites, Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the U.S.A. The band will also perform popular American composer Leroy Anderson’s The Phantom Regiment. Scott Johnston, Fort Dodge, will narrate a moving tribute to the American flag while the band performs James Swearingen’s Lest We Forget.

The concert will close with the playing of songs from all five branches of military service in the Armed Forces Salute, followed by Karl King’s exciting galop, Majestic, and John Phillip Sousa’s immortal march, The Stars and Stripes Forever, along with our national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner.

Persons attending this Sunday’s concert are encouraged to bring small American flags to wave at appropriate times during the concert. There will be plenty of opportunities to proudly wave the red, white, and blue during this hour-long concert, states Conductor Jimmerson.

These summer concerts continue on Sunday, June 18th, when the King Band will perform a special Father’s Day Concert. Guest soloist will be David Lang from Independence IA on Euphonium. He will perform the famous solo Napoli, originally composed and performed by Herman Bellstedt with the John Philip Sousa Band. A wide variety of music will be featured, from Ambrose Thomas’ classic overture, Raymond to the Highlights from Man of La Mancha. Rounding out this concert will be marches by Karl King and Henry Fillmore and others to the popular sounds with the hits from the song-writing team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

On Sunday, June 25th, the King Band will feature music with a circus flair. Marches from composers like Karl L. King and Russell Alexander to the classical music of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville and the exciting Farandole by Bizet will combine with the popular sounds of Seventy-Six Trombones and jazz from New York, 1927. Special guest conductor Andrew Glover, president of the C.L. Barnhouse Co. in Oskaloosa IA, will be on hand to premier one of his latest compositions, Happy-Go-Lucky, along with a recently discovered, unpublished manuscript by Karl King titled The Rippling Waves, a circus aerial waltz.

There will be four more in July as well, starting with an Independence Day concert on July 2nd featuring Tschaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and Leroy Anderson’s Bugler’s Holiday. Plan now to be in attendance at the Karl L. King Band Shell in Oleson Park each Sunday evening during June and July. In case of inclement weather occurring at the posted starting time, a concert may be cancelled.

View Winter concert season programs.

The Indoor Concert Season from Last Year

February 20 - Karl L. King Birthday Concert
View two pages of photos and listen to MP3 sounds from that February 20 concert.

March 13 - The Irish Concert

April 3 - The Scholarship Concert
View photos and listen to MP3 sounds from the April 3rd Scholarship Concert .

View the programs from the 2022 Summer Season.

KARL KING BAND PERFORMED IN SPENCER:

The nationally-known Karl L. King Municipal Band of Fort Dodge Ia, was invited to join the 100th anniversary celebration of the Clay County Fair in Spencer on September 17 last year. Karl L. King and the Fort Dodge Municipal Band were regular fixtures at that fair each year, beginning in 1922 and continuing to the close of the 1959 season. This photo shows Karl King and his band in front of their tent camp at the 1928 Clay County Fair.

(You may click image to see the page giving identities of those pictured.)
Karl King is in the center of the photo, between the two sousaphone players.

The King Band last appeared at the Fair in Spencer for the 75th anniversary in 1992.

The Karl King Band performed in the Grandstand that evening, beginning with a pre-concert at 6:30 pm before the main celebration started at 7:00 pm.

Click to see the King Band's appearance at the 2015 IBA State Conference.