Orcas Island Community Band | A history of community

||| FROM KAREN KEY for ORCAS ISLAND COMMUNITY BAND |||

The Orcas Island Community Band (OICB) is a 501c3 non-profit all-volunteer organization comprised of approximately thirty Orcas Island and occasionally neighboring-island men and women dedicated to making a unique musical and cultural contribution to our community. Membership in the OICB is open to musicians of high school age or older who play instruments found in the standard scoring of the concert band. Our members come from a broad variety of backgrounds, including healthcare workers, firefighters, school teachers, engineers, politicians, doctors, students, and retirees.

The Orcas Island Community Band began in 1978 when Gary Bennett could not conceive of a Fourth of July Parade without Sousa.  (Previously the only music in the local parade was a bagpiper.)  He decided to gather an informal group of musicians who would ride in the Eastsound parade once a year – known as the Free Form Riding Marine Band.  This casual, once-a-year gathering of musicians became a “garage band” in 1990 with seven or eight musicians gathering in Marlin Brown’s garage in the Orcas Highlands/Eastsound for weekly music sessions.   By 1994, the group had grown to ten musicians, and they performed in the Historical Society’s July parades and were jokingly called the Orcas Island Hysterical Society’s Sedentary Band.   After participating center stage in one of the Orcas Center’s early variety shows membership grew exponentially.  The world-wide Covid19 pandemic shut down the Band from March 2020 until September 11, 2023 when it resumed weekly rehearsals.  The Band did rehearse outside in June of 2022 and 2023 so as to perform for the annual Fourth of July parade in Eastsound.

Our directors have been Marlin Brown, Kirke Muse, Virgil Cleveland, Gary Bennett, Lizz Hanks, Joe Babcock, Martin Lund, Jim Shaffer-Bauck, Karen Key Speck and occasional stand-in and guest conductors.

Our membership and musical growth continues to fulfill our ambitions for greater visibility and a busier concert schedule.  Some of our credentials include: formal concerts at the Orcas Center, Fourth of July concerts on Main Street and the Village Green after the annual parade, twilight concerts at Waterfront Park accompanying the Chamber’s fireworks, grand openings for the new projector at Sea View Theatre, Senior Center, Orcas Center Black Box addition, a concrete pour at the Doe Bay Firehouse, the annual Return of the Olga Dock, welcome homes for our soldiers who fought in Iraq, Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance/9-11, Summer in the Parks concerts for Orcas and San Juan Island, Veteran’s Day programs at the school, Burton Burton’s train depot parties, graduations, St. Patrick’s Day parades, Library Fair activities, fundraising auctions and at the Spring Puyallup Fair in Puyallup, Washington (our first band bus excursion).  In 2009 the Band went international, performing at a band festival in Ladner, British Columbia.

Throughout our history, the Orcas Island Community Band has strived to promote high-quality performance of traditional and contemporary band literature. The impact of our outreach program has been noted time and again as music lovers, especially students, have seen that their love of music can last a lifetime and our wonderful community embraces us. The Orcas Island Community Band is regarded as a friendly, social band dedicated to having fun and making music.                

Our fall season begins Monday, September 8, 2025, 7-9pm at the Orcas School Band Room.  Rehearsals are open to anyone who plays a wind-band instrument and can read music.  Much like riding a bicycle, playing music returns rather easily.  Don’t be hesitant.  Get that instrument out of the dark recesses of your closet and show it some new love.

Questions:  Karen Key Speck at karenkey@orcasonline.com