by Jesse Oliver (Tuba)

On July 3, forty-five band members and friends set out for the Chemainus Days Festival on Vancouver Island.  It is an annual downtown festival developed by community merchants and service organizations.  Chemainus Pharmacy sponsored us to come from the mainland to perform.  It had been raining for weeks and the day dawned cloudy with threats of more to come.

As we all piled into the motor coach we wondered if anyone would come to hear us play in the rain.  We could see clearing in the west as we crossed Georgia Straight on the ferry.  Landing at Duke Point, just south of Nanaimo there were spits on the windshield.

Wendy and Glen Franzen, our hosts treated us to a wonderful meal with many different salads, baked salmon, cold cuts, cheese, tea, coffee, juice and, of course, for desert, Nanaimo bars.

At noon we headed to downtown Chemainus with its many buildings covered with world famous heritage murals.  After fighting our way through crowds, we set up in the Waterwheel Park Band Shell built by the Rotary Club.

Just as the flutes and drums called the audience to assemble with the familiar opening of River Kwai March, the clouds softened and the sun came through.

Selections for the two 45-minute sets were taken from the repertoire prepared for our 1999 Performance Tour of Great Britain.  In addition to ever-popular marches the concert included themes from movies, stage, as well as North American and British selections.  Our vocalist Maureen Toronitz pleased the enthusiastic crowd of a few hundred again and again, remaining on their feet through the last twenty bars of our closing piece, New York, New York.

The band shell acoustics were perfect for both the musicians and the audience.  A Rotarian declared that the concert was the "real inauguration" of the recently built public stage.  The director, Curt Jantzen remarked that it could have been our best concert, ever.

Delta Music Makers at Post-Chemainus Days Concert Party       Ken Borrie photo

After the concert we returned to our host’s home, to a photo shoot, smoked salmon, wine and cheese reception.  Following another two-hour ferry ride we arrived back in on the mainland in Tsawwassen at 8 o’clock, thirteen hours after we began.  Instruments and music were taken from the motor coach and preloaded into vans and trucks in preparation for leaving the following Friday on our Great Britain Performance Tour.

We thank our sponsor, Chemainus Pharmacy, Your Local Friendly Drug Store at 9892 Esplanade, owned by our hard working hosts Wendy and Glen Franzen, ably supported by daughter Michelle and Drew Watson.

Percussionist Hugh Martell, Director Curt Jantzen, hosts Wendy and Glen Franzen, and Jesse Oliver, Tuba.

Truly, it was a great day, a catered band trip, and a concert not soon forgotten.