OLD LYME — The Town of Old Lyme and the Sound View Commission are sponsoring family-friendly concerts at Sound View Beach this summer.
The first concert in the 2021 series will be held Thursday, July 8, and feature the Old Lyme Town Band. The free outdoor concerts will take place from 7 through 8.30 p.m., near the flag pole at the end of Hartford Ave. at Sound View Beach.
Bring a blanket or a lawn chair, and settle in for a lovely evening of sunset music. The band plays a little bit of everything from marches, movie-themed medleys, and jazz, to big band, pop, and classical. Everyone is welcome to attend these family-friendly events.
The rain location for this concert is the Shoreline Community Center on Hartford Ave.
The original Old Lyme Town Band existed from 1886 to 1910. The band members practiced in the “Band Room,” a building on the corner of Shore and Ferry Roads that has since been converted to a residence.
In the summer of 1975, Michele Smith Dickey, a granddaughter of one of the original band members, re-formed the band in anticipation of the US bicentennial celebration. Dickey took lessons on a trombone, which reputedly belonged to a member of the original Old Lyme Town Band.
Donald Janse, then director of cadet musical activities at the US Coast Guard Academy and past director of the Coast Guard Band, was the first conductor of the modern band.