Harwich Town Band Celebrates 50 Years

 HARWICH – “The Harwich Town Band has been a cherished cultural institution, bringing the joy of music to residents and visitors alike for 50 years,” Select Board member Mark Kelleher said when presenting a proclamation on July 1 celebrating the band’s 50th anniversary during a concert in Brooks Park. 

The select board declared July 1 Harwich Town Band Day.

“Since its founding in 1975, the band has fostered a deep appreciation for music, community spirit, and local talent enriching the lives of countless individuals through performances that celebrate tradition and artistry,” said Kelleher.

The band was created in the spring of 1975 and performed its first concert from a haywagon drawn by two Clydesdale horses in that year’s Independence Day parade. The band has grown over the years, to the point that this year, with nearly 60 members, it no longer fits on the bandstand in Brooks Park.  

 Band Director Tom Jahnke said musicians from 10 of the 15 towns on the Cape play in the band.

 The band is a mainstay in many of the ceremonies held in the community, including Veterans Day and Memorial Day, Cape Cod Regional Technical High School graduation, holiday concerts, and the weekly summer concerts on Tuesday Night in Brooks Park.

 “Its 50-year success is the result of its dedicated musicians, the driving enthusiasm of three previous conductors — Anthony W. Stevens, 1975-1982; John P. Hogan, 1983-2005: Peter H.Cobb, 2006-2019 — and its current conductor Thomas Jahnke, with the unwavering support of the town of Harwich,” said band member Peter de Bakker.

On July 1 the town band opened the performance with a Harwich favorite, ‘“Harwich Is The Town For Me,” written by the late Milton Adolphus, a composer and member of the American Composers Alliance who retired to West Harwich. The song was written in 1986. Adolphus passed away in 1988.      

 It was followed by “Birthday” by The Beatles and other classics such as Woody Guthrie’s “This land is Your Land.”

The Tuesday evening concert drew an audience of about 150 people.