Community Band Festival brings a dozen bands to Lake George this weekend

It’s the largest event of its kind in the Northeast. Friday evening, July 14, and all day Saturday, July 15, community bands from across New York, New England and Ontario will perform on the Shepard Park amphitheatre stage. This is the 13th year the Lake George Community Band has hosted the Community Band Festival, which features hometown bands performing marches, show tunes, classical compositions and much more. The festival is free and open to the public.

Friday evening at 5 p.m., Big Band Ottawa opens the Community Band Festival’s Jazz Night with swing, Latin and jazz standards. Big Band Ottawa is followed by Ballston Spa Jazz and Center Stage Jazz, breakout ensembles from larger concert bands that will perform Saturday.

Saturday morning, the festival kicks off at 10:45 with opening remarks and the playing of the U.S. and Canadian National Anthems. A full lineup of concert bands will perform back-to-back from 11 a.m. through 8:30 p.m. with a half-hour dinner break at 5 p.m.

2017 Community Band Festival Schedule

Friday: Jazz bands

5:00-6:15 Big Band Ottawa – Ottawa, Ontario
6:30-7:45 Ballston Spa Jazz – Ballston Spa, NY
8:00-9:15 Center Stage Jazz – Plainville, CT

Saturday: Concert bands

10:45 a.m. Opening Remarks
11:00-11:50 The Eagles Community Band (National Anthems) –Pittsfield, MA
12:00-12:50 Middletown Symphonic Band –Middletown, CT
1:00-1:50 Simsbury Community Band – Simsbury, CT
2:00-2:50 Concert Band of Kanata – Kanata, Ontario
3:00-3:50 Phoenix Community Band –Phoenix, NY
4:00-4:50 Nepean Concert Band – Ottawa, Ontario
5:00-5:30 half-hour break
5:30-6:20 Honeoye Falls Community Concert Band – Honeoye Falls, NY
6:30-7:20 Ballston Spa Community Band – Ballston Spa, NY
7:30-8:30 Lake George Community Band – Lake George, NY

The Lake George Community Band, formed in 2003, began as a marching band to celebrate the Lake George Village Centennial. The band continues to march each May in the Lake George Memorial Day parade and has expanded its reach as a full-fledged concert band.

The Community Band hosts a Thursday night concert series in Shepard Park each summer, performs at the Charles R. Wood Theater and Lake George High School in the spring and fall and fills the Lake George Firehouse with holiday tunes each year at the Village of Lake George’s “Lite up the Village” celebration.