Perform With Us Outdoors in Pinellas Park!
Update Sept 6, 2021: As of todays date, we are "go" for the Festival! Thank you for registering so that we can move ahead with the details! ---Lee Lafleur
The “Second Fifth Annual” Festival of Community Bands is scheduled for Saturday, November 6 2021 outdoors at the England Brothers Park and Band Shell in Pinellas Park, Florida (the “First Fifth Annual” Festival in 2020 was cancelled due to the pandemic).
We’d like to invite YOUR COMMUNITY/CONCERT BAND to perform with us November 6 2021!
The festival, with an enthusiastic audience of well over 1,000 in the park, was introduced in 2016 with three community bands, and has grown to what would have been eight bands in 2020. With rotating venues throughout Florida's Pinellas County, 2021 brings us to the tree-lined England Brothers Park adjacent to the spectacular Pinellas Park Performing Arts Center which will serve as home base, instrument storage, and warm-up for the event.
The festival has seen performances (or 2020 planned performances) by outstanding local and traveling community bands including:
- The Anclote Symphonic Winds (planned 2020)
- The Dunedin Concert Band (every year)
- The St. Petersburg Community Band (every year)
- The Florida Brass (planned 2020)
- The New Horizons Band of Gulfport (planned 2020)
- The Wesley Chapel Winds (4 of 5 years)
- Gulfport Gecko Marching Band (planned 2020)
- The Pinellas Community Players (planned 2020)
- The Eastern Hillsborough Community Band (4 of 5 years)
- The Stuart (FL) Community Concert Band (2019)
- The Villages New Horizons Band (2019)
- The Awesome Original Second Time Arounders Marching Band (every year)
The stage will be yours for 20-25 minutes to perform your best selections with some coordination of the directors facilitated to avoid duplicate selections. More bands likely means a rotating audience which we'll learn together to manage. The finale includes a march or two with all participating bands playing to the delight of the players and audience alike!
With blanket and lawn chair seating, food trucks, participating band display tables, picnics, and a dog friendly environment, the festival brings an enthusiastic audience to enjoy your performance as well as hundreds of musicians and their families playing for each other. As participating bands will tell you, it’s just a spectacular afternoon!
As of this writing we have pre-commitment from the Dunedin Concert Band, the St. Petersburg Community Band, and the Second Time Arounders Marching Band. The date is set but we will manage to any State and local restrictions in 2021 as they relate to the Covid Pandemic. We’d rather plan a successful event now than scramble later!
The festival is produced and sponsored by the Dunedin Music Society whose 501c3 mission is to connect local communities with live music. The DMS hosts several performing groups including the Dunedin Concert Band, the Pinellas Community Players, and the Rhythm Kings Jazz Orchestra. www.dunedinmusicsociety.org
There is a small $50.00 entry fee please per band to help defray minimal festival expenses.
Thanks for your consideration of joining the Festival in 2021. The positive comments from performers and audience members the past four festivals have been overwhelmingly positive. We look to continue this event for years to come, providing and supporting “live music” in Pinellas County, and look forward to your participation.
Questions? Just ask. Please chat with your members and leadership and let us know of your interest (or not). We sincerely hope you consider bringing YOUR band! We'll be following-up with each of you in the coming weeks.
Watch the 2019 Festival Commercial
Watch the channel 10 spot
Watch the Star Spangled Banner opening from 2016
