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Letter: GABBF is a wonderful event

June 25, 2007

Dear Editor,

As a yearly Great American Brass Band Festival goer, I wish to extend my sincere gratitude and heartfelt thanks to all of you in Danville and surrounding areas who make it the success it is.

I missed only the first year. To me my time in Danville is not just an event but an experience. My sister Kay has kept us hopping over the years and we have always taken in the tea, and I go to the band history conference. The gallery hop has become another favorite to look forward to. Then of course there are the friends in Danville, new friends from Virginia, South Carolina, and elsewhere.

We have our favorite tree that many of us reunite under each year. How fun to dance in the street following the Olympia Brass Band and to find "your" picture in The Advocate-Messenger.

The decorator picnic is a special treat, and meeting the bands and reconnecting when they return another year. Thank you street sweepers, grounds keepers, stage builders and tear downers.

A special thanks to those of you who give of your time, energy and money to make it such a special time.

Last year I met Herb Barnum, a member of the 8th Regiment Band out of Rome, Ga. Someone standing next to him mentioned that Herb was Gen. Omar Bradley's personal pilot during World War II. Wow, and most of us just walked by the older gentleman with the drum.

As a Wisconsinite, I find it refreshing that you are a dry county. The beer tent at most all of the events here can be a negative. Should you be allowed to have alcohol at the picnic? I would say yes.

Thank you one and all for the splash of color across the fabric of my life each June in Danville. You have a beautiful city with many wonderful things going for it.

Rita Walker

Janesville

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