Burlington Iowa Municipal Band

Each year, the band has openings for a few musicians. If you are interested in becoming a member of the Burlington Municipal Band, contact Jim Priebe by telephone at (319) 752-7305 or by e-mail at bmbfoundation@muniband.org.

The Burlington (Iowa) Municipal Band is a community concert band which has served and enriched the life of this city since 1927. The band's first concert was presented in Crapo Park in May of that year after the citizens of Burlington had voted for the implementation of the Iowa Band Law, a statute that allows cities to levy a tax “for the maintenance and employment of a band for musical purposes.” The city fathers of that time chose not to levy the tax as instructed by the vote, but to fund the band from the city's general fund instead. The city discontinued that funding in 2011 and the band is now supported by private donations through the Burlington Municipal Band Foundation. The band's roots extend back to the nineteenth century; it was formed through the combining of the existing Orchard City Band and the privately operated Fischer's Band under the leadership of J. Henri Fischer, a prominent musician of the era.

The band today enjoys a membership from a wide variety of backgrounds. The band contains homemakers, physicians, music teachers, business men and women, ministers, retired people, college students, and a few outstanding high school musicians. All share the common enjoyment of playing their instruments and providing the community with a wholesome family activity.

The Municipal Band performs free Sunday evening concerts in Crapo Park during the summer months. These concerts are presented from 7:30 until 8:30 P.M. at the Crapo Park Bandshell, located on Grandview Drive within the park. This site provides concert goers a magnificent view of the Mississippi River and the Illinois farmlands spread below, and a wide lawn where listeners can choose to sit on park benches provided near the bandshell, or bring their own lawn chairs or blankets, perhaps to sit near the illuminated Foehlinger Fountain. The concerts are well attended by people of all ages, and many visitors to Burlington make it a point to return each summer to hear at least one concert.

We hope that you will take the opportunity to support live music provided by many musical organizations in the Burlington Area. Members of the Municipal Band participate in or direct many of these groups, and we would love to see you. These groups include the school bands, orchestras and choirs in Burlington and surrounding communities as well as the Southeast Iowa Symphony, Southeast Iowa Band, Bel Canto Chorale, South Hill Brass, Southeast Iowa Brass Quintet, and the Southeast Iowa Woodwind Quintet. You may often find band members directing or participating in the pit bands of the Players Workshop and/or area school musical productions as well.

We invite you to preview each week's concert for interesting information about the music and the conductor by clicking on the "This week's concert" button below. This information is normally available by the Wednesday preceding the concert. For even more updates and information, visit our Facebook page.

Our 2022 season has ended. We tremendously appreciate the support that we have received from the community and we’d like to extend our thanks to all who attended our concerts and our particular thanks to those who have given us financial support! A list of those wonderful people can be viewed by clicking on the “Friends of the Burlington Municipal Band” button below.

In particular, we would like to mention those businesses that have contributed to the Burlington Municipal Band Foundation and we suggest that, when you have need of their products or services, you give them particular consideration as they have demonstrated their commitment to our community!

Those businesses are:

Two Rivers Bank and Trust

Arnold Refrigeration

Kings Daughters and Sons

Standard of Beaverdale

Valley Distribution Corporation

Jennison Industries

Zaiser’s Landscaping

Maid-Rite Diner

Becker’s Jewelers

Rheinschmidt’s Flooring

Klingner & Associates

The Smile Shoppe (Dr. Amy Groeltz)

Summer Snow (Dani Swink)

The Medium LLC

ReMax Real Estate Specialists, Inc.

Bickel’s Cycling and fitness

Rexroth Chiropractic

In addition to these business donors there are many other organizations and individuals whose contributions or work make it possible for our band to thrive. Our sincere thanks to:

The Burlington Municipal Band Foundation board of directors (whose names can be found by clicking on the Burlington Municipal Band Foundation button below)

The City of Burlington

The Des Moines County Community Foundation

The Burlington Parks Department and Ryan Gourley

The Burlington Community School District and Brent Krieger and his staff

The Hawk Eye newspaper and Julie Nickell

Tri States Public Radio

Louisa Publishing Company

The Burlington Beacon

Radio Station KBUR and Steve Hexom

The following band members and/or friends are due particular thanks for their extra work: Jennifer Arnold, Tom Bell*, Chandler Carper, Dawn Cazin, Pat Cazin, Jennifer Hexom, Dalton Howell, Marcia Korb, Pete Korb, Brian Mitchell, Derrick Murphy, Lindsey Nieto, Jim Priebe, Philip Reusch, Gerry Runyon, and Scott Teater. Undoubtedly, some have been inadvertently omitted. We hope that they will forgive us for neglecting to list their names!