FORT FRANCES—While he didn’t get the turnout for town band members he had hoped at a public meeting Wednesday night at the Memorial Sports Centre, Gene Andrusco is going to try a little longer to drum up musicians.
“I’m going to pursue it a little further. I’m not giving up quite yet,” he said at the meeting, which drew a half-dozen Borderland musicians.
“I think what I’ll do before we have our second meeting or anything like that is talk to the people and make some phone calls; talk to John Dutton and John Faith and a few of the other key people in the area, and work from there,” he added.
“It’s hard to tell right now, but we’ll see what happens.”
Andrusco, a nephew of former town band director Walter Andrusco, said he’s been talking to people about the revival of the Fort Frances Town Band all summer.
“I thought word would spread quite a bit. I don’t know if it did or not with not too many people showing up.
“But with the ads in the paper and on the radio here and in the Falls, I thought we’d have a few more turn out,” he admitted.
While one Fort High student, Bailey Strom, signed up for the band Wednesday night, Andrusco added he was hoping to see a few more high school students express interest.
Andrusco said he’s looking for anyone—no matter their age or where they reside—to get involved, as long as they have some experience playing in a concert band and have their own instruments.
Ideally, the band would have about 25-30 members, playing a variety of woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments (this is different from the Borderland Community Orchestra, where strings are dominant).
“If you’re missing the tuba player and you’re missing the trombone players, and you’ve only got one trumpet player, it’s pretty hard to keep things rolling in a band with a lot of pieces missing,” Andrusco remarked.
“If one or two people don’t show up on top of that, then you’re missing a whole bunch of stuff,” he added.
A total of seven people had signed up for the town band as of last night. “It might be a go yet,” remarked Andrusco. “Never say die.”
Andrusco, who is now retired and has been spending his time between California and Fort Frances, noted that if the town band ever does take off, he’d come back here for good.
“If we could get this rolling, I’d be moving back for sure,” he noted. “But now, I spend half-time there and half-time here.
“I’m here a lot. But if this thing got rolling, I’d be here a lot more. That was the plan.”
The last time the town band played was in 1979. For those who don’t recall, it played weekly concerts in the park during the summer, and always played in the Canada Day parade here and July 4 parade over in International Falls.
Those who were unable to attend Wednesday night’s meeting, but are still interested in participating or would like more information, are asked to contact Andrusco at 274-4282.
(Fort Frances Daily Bulletin)
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
