As is tradition, the 110-year-old Bainbridge Band kicked off the town's Summer Arts Festival with military marches, big brass and the kind of dignity that comes with being around for 110 years.

"They have a big following," said John Myers, who coordinates the summer festival through Greater Elizabethtown Area Recreation Services. "It's been tradition that they kick off the season since longer than I've been alive."

Myers said the band draws the older crowd, who this year enjoyed a tribute to Pearl Harbor, Stephen Foster tunes and, of course, the traditional playing of the "Charter Centennial March," written for the establishment of the Bainbridge Band in 1896.

On Sunday, about 80 people lugged lawn chairs, babies and blankets to the park on a perfect summer night for the free concert. The weather was a blessing for the more than 30 band members, who wear black pants and white shirts for performances in any kind of weather.

"We're out in all sorts of weather. But this is a good night -- cool and breezy, but not so much breeze that the music blows away," said Lititz saxophonist Eric Lakehart, who's been with the band for two years.

On Sunday, Lakehart's slick double solos in a tribute to master sax player Rudy Wiedoeft visibly tickled Bainbridge conductor Phil Smith, who plies the audience with tidbits before some of the numbers -- Wiedoeft invested in a gold mine that "didn't pan out," for example.

Before Sunday's concert, Smith mapped out the tunes for his band: "Be careful in the last six measures -- 'Ba, ba, ba, ba-bah!'... and then the grand pause -- be careful and make sure you stop in time."

That's the kind of quick run-through that convinced 13-year-old Cody Barton to join the band, which is composed of far more gray-hairs than members of her generation. In fact, the trumpet player from Columbia is the band's youngest member by quite a few years, and she's more inclined to talk about the hazards of playing the trumpet with a mouth full of braces than dentures.

"It just sounded like fun when my teacher told me about it," she said. "It's not like the elementary band. In this band, we just go through a few measures and then play. I've learned a lot."

It helps that Cody's best bandmate is veteran trumpet player Jack Frank, who's been a member for 60 years. His son, Bob Frank, and daughter-in-law, Susan, are both third-generation members of Bainbridge Band.

Cody's two years in the Bainbridge Band have worked out pretty well for her family, too. Her grandmother, Vicki Schaeffer, and mother, Penny Barton, are big fans.

When Schaeffer drives Cody to Monday night band practice, she stays for the whole thing. And both attend all the shows.

"I love it. I love marching music and patriotic music, and that's what they do," Schaeffer said. "I absolutely love it."

"It's been tradition that they kick off the season since longer than I've been alive."

John Myers, coordinator

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