The movie version of "The Music Man" made its premiere at Mason City's Palace Theatre on the night of June 19, 1962. The entire cast of the movie traveled to Mason City for the event. An after premiere party was held at the Hotel Hanford. It was written by Meredith Willson and Franklin Lacey; music score by Meredith Willson and Ray Heinford. The movie won and Academy Award for Best Original Score; Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy; Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written Musical (1963) and a Golden Laurel for Top Male Musical Performance (1963).
Robert "Meredith" Willson biography
Meredith Willson's Boyhood Home
"The Music Man" Trivia Page
1963: Silver Anniversary of the North Iowa Band Festival, June 11, 1963. Includes article about Mr. Band Festival Lester Milligan and "MAC" Award winner and Mason City High School Band director Paul Behm.
1964: 26th North Iowa Band Festival, June 09, 1964
1968: Meredith Willson returned to lend a helping hand for the 30th Band Festival in 1968. An unexpected tornado ripped through Charles City on May 15th and left much of the town in ruins. The high school however, had somehow been spared and the Charles City high school band members unanimously voted to participate in the North Iowa Band Festival less than a month later. Understandably, not all band members could come. As Band Director Robert Gower explained at the time: "Several of our members have construction jobs as a result of the tornado, and could not be here." Despite the tragedy in their hometown the little Charles City band stole the show.
1984: 46th North Iowa Band Festival. For the 1984 North Iowa Band Festival the parade could no longer march down Federal Avenue because Southbridge Mall had been built in the middle of the traditional parade route. Consequently, the parade route has altered slightly. Tragically, the North Iowa Band Festival's life and breath, Meredith Willson passed away in California. His funeral and burial took place in his beloved Mason City. At his funeral, Mason City Mayor Ken Kew remembered Willson's fun times in his hometown's Band Festival when he eulogized Willson, stating, "From this day forward, whenever I hear thunder rolling across the sky like timpani and bass drums, I'll say to myself, 'There's Meredith. He's leading another big parade.'"
These Times, They Are A-changing: Throughout the next 20 years Band Festival saw subtle changes, brought on by changing times in education. School districts were merging, creating one school where there had once been two, and dwindling school resources made lengthy travel a luxury many districts could not afford. The days of 100 or more bands participating in the 70’s and 80’s were gone.
1985 & 1986: 47th & 48th North Iowa Band Festivals were held in the fall instead of its tradition observation in the spring of the year. However the festival was changed back to tradition, to be held the first Saturday in June. This meant that for the 1986-87 school year, there were two festivals. One was held in October of 1986; a second festival was held in June of 1987.
1982: Festivities for the 44th North Iowa Band Festival were relocated to downtown Mason City because Roosevelt Stadium had been torn down.
1987: The 49th North Iowa Band Festival drew national attention from the Los Angeles Times. The newspaper article told of Meredith Willson's heritage in Mason City, saying, "Not surprisingly, Mason City High School has one of the top music programs in the nation and the Mason City High School band consistently ranks among the best in America."
1988: The 50th North Iowa Band Festival was a three-day celebration that included The Iowa State Lottery held a special lottery drawing in Central Park, the spinning of the lottery's giant "Million Dollar Wheel", an event that was televised live statewide. Another feature was a live stage show of North Iowa actors, actresses and musicians performing Broadway hits and jazz favorites. "Middle School Mania", was a party in the park for sixth, seventh and eighth graders with games and lots and lots of music, naturally! Among the visitors to Mason City over the weekend was Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, Meredith Willson's widow Rosemary, and former mayor Ken Kew. This would be Kew’s last hurrah as master of ceremonies for the Band Festival Queen competition. He passed of cancer a month later.
1989: The 51st North Iowa Band Festival began its "Second 50 Years" by keeping with an old tradition of great music and starting an exciting new tradition - the awarding of four $500 music scholarships to high school musicians who performed before judges to earn these scholarships. A highlight of this festival was an appearance by Bill Haley's Comets, named for the legendary 1950s singing-group. North Iowans "rocked around the clock" at the memorable Saturday night concert that prompted spontaneous "jitterbugging" by many in the audience who were caught up in the nostalgia and excitement. The second half-century of band festivals had begun.
1990: 57th North Iowa Band Festival. The unimaginable happened during the 1990 festival parade. It rained! A drizzle that started shortly before the 10AM start of the parade became a full-fledged downpour by the time the last of more than 100 parade entries marched down State Street. The Ventura High School Queen candidate, Jody Schichtl was riding in a convertible that was the 114th parade entry, she said, "Right as we got into downtown, it really started to rain. My umbrella blew up, pulled me forward, and hit driver in the head." That's not the only reason Jody will remember the 1990 Band Festival. Later in the day, she was crowned festival Queen! Her mother, Judy, was 1954 Band Festival Queen, representing Corwith High School. Jody's "coronation" in 1990 marked the first time a mother and daughter have each been crowned as Queen. Another "first" in 1990 was the formation of an "alumni band," made up of former Band Festival musicians, led by Mason City School Superintendent Dr. David Darnell. Activities concluded with a Saturday night concert-featuring singer Ben E. King, who performed in the North Iowa Area Community College auditorium instead of in the rain-soaked park.
1991: Pride and patriotism was mirrored through the Band Festival music. Between the 1990 and 1991, 52nd & 53rd, festivals, America had been at war and North Iowa had been affected deeply. The 1133rd Transportation Division of the Iowa National Guard, based in Mason City, was called to active duty by President George Bush the previous October and had been in the Persian Gulf for eight months. In Mason City and throughout the country, trees were adorned with yellow ribbons, a silent tribute to the troops overseas. Most of the people watching the 1991 Band Festival had a friend or relative serving in the Persian Gulf or knew of someone who was. In the afternoon festivities, patrons were treated to a concert by the Strategic Air Command Band - a 60-piece group from Offutt Air Force Base, who saluted all the armed forces with a rousing medley of military anthems.
1992: The 54th North Iowa Band Festival was revamped with a new parade route. Festivities were relocated to East Park which was more spacious. East Park was created just East of State Street from downtown Mason City. This would be the location for the activities, entertainment, craft show, and car show. A “Root Beer Garden” was hosted by many volunteers and sold over 3,000 floats on Saturday.
East Park Band Shell
1993: The 1993 (55th) Band Festival Committee had been busy planning for even more root beer floats but Mother Nature had other ideas. It was a wild scramble because East Park had been flooded. 23 days of rain in May saturated East Park. On the Wednesday before the festival (June 2) the decision was made to move the festival back downtown to drier grounds. In order to accomplish this, city council approval was needed for all the necessary street closings and the law required 24- hours’ notice before a council meeting. Mayor Bill Schickel convened the city council at 4 p.m. on Thursday, June 3. The council adjourned at 4:10 p.m., having approved everything necessary to move the Band Festival. At 4:30 p.m., an alternative stage was being constructed downtown and a little more than 24 hours later, thousands of North Iowans were rocking to the music of the Backstage Band and Soft Thunder as the 55th Band Festival. By Sunday night, 4,200 root beer floats had been sold. A highlight of the 1993 festival was presentation of the first “Band Festival Service Award” to 101-year-old Dan Klempnauer. Klempnauer, who had managed Damon's Department Store downtown, was the first chairman of the festival in 1936 and served in many capacities in the festival's early years to help get it off the ground. Nearly 60 years later a crowd of several thousand gave Klempnauer a standing ovation as he was presented with the first service award. Initiated in 1993, the Klempnauer Award recognizes an “unsung hero who works behind the scenes.”
1994: 56th North Iowa Band Festival. Rosemary Willson, Meredith's widow, returned to Mason City to be the “Grand Marshal“ of the parade 10 years after her husband's passing. The service award was presented to Dolores Kew, widow of Ken Kew, the former mayor and the man who had delivered such a stirring eulogy to Willson a decade earlier.
1995: The 1995 (57th) festival was highlighted by the most popular parade unit in festival history - a spunky brass band called Top Chops that provided crowd-pleasing antics and interplay with the spectators as they marched and played their music. Top Chops also performed in the park later in the day and their performance in the parade was so well-received that they were booked for the 1996 festival before they even left town. This was the first time a parade entry would ever return by popular request.
1996: 58th North Iowa Band Festival. A torrential rainstorm, the biggest in the history of the festival, blew through Mason City, soaking every body and every thing. It started about 20 minutes after the parade had commenced and lasted for six grueling hours. Local historian Art Fischbeck, a spectator at almost every festival, said afterwards, "I've seen it rain before the parade, I've seen it rain after the parade, and it has sprinkled from time to time during the parade. Never have I seen it rain as hard or as long as it did on the parade of 1996."
1997: The sun shone down brightly during the four days of the 1997 (59th) festival. A classical concert was added to the Thursday night activities. The band festival added kings to join the queens as high school royalty. Rockford High School had
elected a King beginning in 1995, but 1997 marked the first year other schools joined in.
2000: 62nd North Iowa Band Festival, theme "River City: The Music Flows Through It."
2001: 63rd North Iowa Band Festival, theme "Music in Living Color."
2002: 64th North Iowa Band Festival, theme "A Century of Meredith Willson."
2003: 65th North Iowa Band Festival, theme "A Tribute to Mason City, 1853 - 2003."
2004: 66th North Iowa Band Festival, theme "Remember When."
2005: 67th North Iowa Band Festival & Mr. Toot, theme "Melodies of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow."
2006: 68th North Iowa Band Festival, theme "In Tune With the Family."
2007: 69th North Iowa Band Festival, theme "Strike Up the Band."
2008: 70th North Iowa Band Festival, theme "76 Trombones."
2009: 71st North Iowa Band Festival, theme "Music 2 make u J."
2010: 72nd North Iowa Band Festival, theme "Rockin' River City."
2011: 73rd Annual North Iowa Band Festival, May 26 - 28, 2011, theme "Music is Magic.
2012: 74th Annual North Iowa Band Festival, May 24 - 26, 2012, theme "Right Here in River City."
2013: 75th Annual North Iowa Band Festival, May 23 - 27, 2012
2014: 76th Annual North Iowa Band Festival, May of 2014, theme "76 Trombones."
2015: 77th Annual North Iowa Band Festival, May 23 - 25, 2015, theme "Can't Stop the Beat." Festivities for the band festival moved downtown Mason City.
2016: 78th Annual North Iowa Band Festival, May 26 - 30, 2016, theme "The Sounds of Music."
2017: 79th Annual North Iowa Band Festival, May 25 - 29, 2017, theme "Music . Family . Fun."
2018: 80th Annual North Iowa Band Festival, May 24 - 28, 2018, theme "Totally 80s."
From its beginning with six bands entertaining folks on the streets of Mason City in 1928, through the incredible Meredith Willson era, to the present-day and beyond, the North Iowa Band Festival has always been a crowd pleaser. William J. Petersen, when writing about plans for the 25th festival in 1963, wrote, "Everyone was looking forward to the 25th. And there was no doubt in anyone's mind that there would be a 30th, a 40th and a 50th. For music is an important part of the very existence of Mason City." Mason City will continue marching on
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: I did not have access to all of the Globe Gazette issues covering the annual North Iowa Band Festival.
Nor were all of the pages of each edition available. ~ SRB
SOURCES: The Globe Gazette, Mason City Chamber of Commerce
Photographs courtsey of The Globe Gazette
Compiled by Sharon R. Becker, July, August & September of 2018
The Iowa Bandmasters Association was founded at Fairfield, Iowa on March 30, 1928. The organization was originated entirely by municipal band directors, partly because of threatened legislative action against the Band Law. The organization received a much needed boost when Karl King invited the association to hold its annual state 1930 convention at Fort Dodge. The Iowa Bandmasters Association grew to include mostly directors of school bands. It is one of the largest and most active of all state bandmaster organizations in the country. The North Iowa Band Festival came into origin at the conclusion of the Iowa Bandmasters Convention, Tuesday, June 23, 1936.
