Junction City municipal bands have been in existence since 1868. The first band consisted of 13 members; only three had played in a band before. The group went by the name “The Junction City Cornet Band.”
Player-turned-director was George Kilian until 1899. The band was giving weekly summertime concerts in the park, free to the general public. The band continued to perform in Junction City until
1963 despite a variety of money problems. The death knell, causing its final concert to be played, was attributed to “air conditioning and television.”
New Bandstand – In 1973, the open-air bandstand in Heritage Park was demolished due to rot in the basement and unsafe conditions. It sat in the general vicinity of the public restrooms of today. Under David Carlson, city bands played on a concrete slab in the early 1990s in a part of the park where there were no park benches, but this was not sustainable and quickly died out when the director moved. By 1996, people in the community wanted to see a community band. City Middle School donated rehearsal space, music, and equipment use.
