Vintage Band Festival – Valerie's Voice

On Saturday Gary and I rode a 25-mile bike loop for Tour de SAVE. SAVE is an acronym for Suicide Awareness Voices of Education. The ride was a fundraiser for this organization.

SAVE: Suicide Awareness Voices of Education

After you registered, you could fill out a pennant to wear, naming a person or persons you were riding in memory of. Both Gary and I have personal connections to people who have taken their own lives, but there were a lot of folks riding for the sake of bringing awareness to suicide.

Gary has ridden this event in previous years. This is a jersey from a different year.

SAVE hosts several types of events, including 5K walk/runs, throughout Minnesota and the US. Click here for a link to their website.

Information signs were posted at the registration area.

We had a beautiful morning to ride. The hot and humid weather moved out and cool, dry air moved in. The rural route took us on backroads, past fields and farms. The blue sky boasted white wispy clouds.

Fields of corn and soy beans, and beautiful blue skies and clouds.

After the ride we met friends for lunch, and then walked to Bridge Square in Northfield to listen to some good band music, put on by the Vintage Band Festival, an annual outdoor music event in Northfield.

Minnesota Pipes and Drums, a musical ensemble consisting of bagpipers and drummers, marching up to the bandshell for their allotted time to play for the crowd.

And, of course, we had a dish of ice cream to wrap up a delightful, summer day.

A great place for ice cream in Northfield.

We were grateful for these wonderful organized events; yet we continue to mourn the loss of loved ones lost to suicide.

The last leg of the 25-mile ride was on the Dundas Trail.

A welcome break in the weather, with lower temperatures and lower dew points, along with coming out from the long and cloistered pandemic, brought a large turnout to the Vintage Band Festival on Bridge Square in downtown Northfield, on Saturday.

The cover of the program for the music festival.

It was very comfortable Saturday morning when I went down with my camp chair and set it up to listen to the music. The music started at 9:30am. Different bands played all day long for 45-minute intervals and small breaks in-between sets.

Folks set up their camp chairs to listen to the music.

The weekly Saturday, Riverwalk Market Fair was also happening on Bridge Square, making it a very festive place to be. There was a lot of energy and I think people were ready to be outside and to be together. The Vintage Band Festival did not happen last year during the pandemic.

I heard the Jack Brass Band, Sheldon Theater Brass Band and Banda La Veradera (traditional Mexican music) with a break in-between to deliver Meals on Wheels. Later in the evening I went back to listen to more good music…the Copper Street Band.

One couple chose to dance to some of the music, and, of course, little girls were twirling around in the front. I would have been at their age.

Little girls twirling and dancing to the music.

All the bands I heard were very good but the Jack Brass Band, described as a “New Orleans-style jazz with added old-time blues, rock, hip-hop, pop funk and reggae” was one of my favorites. Another favortie was the Copper Street Band described as a “ blend of musical styles that fuses electronic effects and brass”. The Copper Street Band featured arrangements from 1770, 1870 and the 1970’s.

It seems to me a good time was had by all.

On a side note, as I was leaning against a tree, listening to the Mexican band when I returned (without a chair) after delivering Meals on Wheels, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and a kind woman pointed to a $20 bill at my feet. She wondered if it was mine…and yes it was. It had fallen out of my pocket. I was grateful she alerted me, and thanked her!