Naperville Municipal Band
The Naperville Municipal Band of Naperville, Ill., is full of tradition with many long-time members among its 100 members.
The members come from about every background and walk of life you can imagine: school teachers, housewives, butchers, a banker, dentists and doctors.
Ron Keller, who taught instrumental music in the Naperville District 203 school system, has been the band's musical director since 1965. He started playing with the band 40 years ago.
The band, which first organized in 1859 as the Naperville Brass Band, played under a variety of names through the years: the Naperville Light Guard Band, Naperville Lounge Factory (predecessor of furniture maker Kroehler Manufacturing Co.) and the Naperville City Band. The band as it is known today was organized in 1929 under the direction of Elmer Koerner, a mathematics teacher and band instructor in the Naperville Public Schools. Keller became the director after Koerner's death in 1965.
This diverse group draws a crowd of sometimes as many as 5,000 to its Thursday night summer concerts at the Elmer Koerner Band Shell in Central Park. The band not only has a loyal local following, but in 1991 won the Sudler Scroll from the John Philip Sousa Foundation for excellence in community bands. It is the sixth band to receive this award since its inception in 1985.
In addition to playing concerts in the Naperville park, the band provides music for civic functions, played for the inauguration of the city council and dedication of new city hall a year ago, and travels to area parades.