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Mt. Pleasant Community Band shares winning T-shirt design at final performance
Like every year, the Mt. Pleasant Community Band completed their season with a performance at the county fair
MT. PLEASANT — The Mt. Pleasant Community Band gave their last performance at the Henry County Fair Thursday night and announced the winning design for a T-shirt contest announced at the beginning of the season.
At the end of July Community Band Director Adam Creager announced a contest requesting community members submit T-shirt designs for a future Community Band shirt.
“In order for our band to have a uniform look at our concerts we are inviting any and all to submit T-shirt designs for a new Mt. Pleasant Community Band T-shirt,” Creager said.
By the deadline of July 11 Creager says he received a total of 14 designs which he then had the band vote for their favorites at their Tuesday evening practice prior to the fair.
According to Creager, the band voted to use a design submitted by an anonymous patron.
“So, we don’t know who it is. We just knew it as submission number eight,” he said.
He displayed the new design which shows a silhouette of the band in front of the Central Park fountain for the back and a circular design reading “Mt. Pleasant Community Band,” as a pocket-like patch for the front of the shirt.
After announcing the winning design, Creager and the band entertained fair attendees with a music lineup meant to remind the listener of the fair.
“Every year I dig through my archives and try to find something kind of fair-themed,” he said.
Starting off, the band played “National Emblem March,” “Shackelford Banks,” and “A Scottish Ballade.”
Creager admits some of the connections to the fair were a bit stretched, including his choice to use selections from Dances With Wolves and the theme from The Mandalorian.
“This movie was so grand at depicting what life would have been like on the prairie,” he described Dances With Wolves. “It really has these soaring gorgeous themes that come throughout.”
As he for each performance, Creager gave his audience context for all the music performed.
“This is a great it's sort of like a space western, this is the theme from the Mandalorian, who's this lone gunslinger for hire that goes out and finds a baby Yoda and then decides that his gun-slinging days are over and he would rather protect this youngling and trade it to become something better,” Creager described the setting for the selections from The Mandalorian.
“And there’s horses so … there’s that connection,” he added.
“Those are two really difficult pieces, and it's not something we normally program outside the park because they're very layered and there's a lot of parts you have to hear,” Creager said. “Underneath this space, you get to hear a lot more of that nuance.”
The band wrapped their last performance with music from The Music Man, which, according to Creager, is tradition for the fair, and a march from Carl King as they always end their sets.
Following the performance, the band loaded the trailer with their chairs, music, stands, and speakers until next year.
Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com
