In the summer of 1980 four people determined that there were probably enough musicians in the Greeley-Fort Collins area to form a concert band. So, Jack Meakins, Duane Anderson, Chuck Smith and Jim Fuller prepared a postcard invitation to all musicians that could be identified. The invite told those interested to come to the Ault High School band room on September 29th for the first rehearsal. 29 people came. Soon, there were 49 musicians under the direction of the late Wayman Walker, and we gave our first concert on November 17th, 1980 at Highland High School in Ault. Walker was succeed by Curtis Johnson, and then by Jay Hatfield who served as conductor until 1991. Jay was followed by UNC doctoral student Gary Schallert (now at Western Kentucky University), and then by Mr. Scott was followed by Dr. Ron Holleman (conductor of the Ethos Chamber Orchestra) who served until 2005. UNC doctoral student Ronda Street (now Dr. Ronda DePriest of Waynedburg University, PA) next served for a year. She was followed by doctoral student Brian Casey (now Dr. Casey of Houghton College). In the fall of 2007 Mr. Bert Aguirre (language arts teacher at South Valley Middle School) became our conductor, and he served for nearly ten years. Starting in Fall 2016, Sebastian Adams (middle school band director at Colorado Early Colleges) took the reins. Why have we endured for nearly 40 years? Because we truly enjoy the creative process and coming together to make music!
