Ringing in 150 years

The Vineyard Haven Band started its 150th anniversary celebration early with a holiday concert.

0

The Vineyard Haven Band is celebrating its 150th anniversary, and to kick off the festivities they held a pop-up holiday concert in the heart of downtown Vineyard Haven Saturday afternoon.

The band will put on a big concert this summer to officially celebrate its anniversary, but this was an opportunity for the band to get together and start celebrating during the holiday season, director Julie Schilling said.

The core of the band, about 25 members of all ages, performed in the concert, and Ms. Schilling said the concert organizers even reached out to the high school band to have kids join in.

With the permission of the town, as well as the restaurant owners, the band performed outside of Bobby B’s Seafood and Pizza, where people were able to come right off Main Street and get a front-row seat to the show.

Spectators were excited to see a winter preview of the band, because typically they only get to enjoy the concerts in the summertime. “We watch them every Sunday in the summer,” Tom Fisher of Edgartown said. “We hardly miss a concert.”

John Washbrook of West Tisbury said the band’s anniversary is incredible and monumental. “It’s representative of small town America that they’ve been able to continue performing,” Mr. Washbrook said.

The Mansion House Inn hosted a reception afterward to warm up the band and the crowd.