Alfred Village Band Remembered

AVB, conducted by Mike Shoales

The beloved Barrett Potter, 2008

An essay written in 2011: I played in the Alfred Village Band last night and again drove home feeling that I was part of a Norman Rockwell painting. At rehearsal the previous night Nancy Lugar lugged in a sack of zucchini and cucumbers ready to stuff them in open hands, open cases, unlocked cars. Linda Staiger and Mike Shoales bantered back and forth while Jane Rainsford sidled around the band taking videos for Facebook.

At the concert we played an all time favorite, St. Louis Blues because Mary Ann VanScoter loves that piece and then we played Amparito Roca because Susan Olix Anderson loves it but our tempo was caffeine meets tornado or something. Those notes went flying.

The Mickey Mouse ears came out for the traditional march around the quad with old and young led by Adam with the cymbals and Valerie with a fife sometimes followed up by a dog. For the conclusion on this night, Earl Packard played the piccolo part for Stars and Stripes on the tuba giving piccolo the night off.

In years past, I would buy a tarp, paint on it and drag the ladder
to Alfred to put it up catching some passer-by to
climb the ladder or hold it for me.

The Alfred Village Band was begun in the 50s. It performs on Wednesday nights in July on the bandstand.  Mr. Cappidonia was a long time conductor and then Mr. Lester and Maestro Canale. Currently it is conducted by Mike Shoales.

Long, long time and dear members were Dick Stillman who wrote several big band arrangements and Barrett Potter and his velvet trumpet. Betty Harder pushed us to have uniform maroon shirts. Adam Jefferds played as a high school kid and then came back for several of his adult years.

Dottie Oakley, trombone

AVB, the younger crew wearing
the shirts that Betty Pushed us to buy.

Update 2018: There is no longer an Alfred Village Band. The village gave financial support for a long while but that went away.  Hopefully, some future Alfred resident will get it all going again.