Music City: The Rossland City Band

Are you curious about Rossland's music history? During Golden City Days, the Rossland Museum & Discovery Centre put on a display about the Rossland City Band in the Curiosity Clothing and Gifts window. The exhibit featured select artifacts from the Rossland Museum's instrument collection and showcased Rossland's history through a musical lense.

Rossland has been home to many bands over the past 120 years. In 1898, Canada's Governor-General, Lord Aberdeen was welcomed into Rossland by a group of a hundred miners and a brass band. Parades in early Rossland almost always included more than one marching band. Individual groups and communities in Rossland like the Fraternal Order of the Eagles, Miner's Union and the Italian community had bands. However, the Rossland City Band was one of the community's longest-running groups.
 
The Rossland City Band had its origins in the late 1890's, and some form of a city band would be a present for much of Rossland's history. Rossland's first city band formed in 1898 under the direction of B.M. Graham. Over the next 17 years, the band was reformed several times before being disbanded during WWI. While the Rossland City Band gave regular performances in the early years, it was not until 1930's that consistent practices, and executive meetings took place.
 
The Rossland City Band gave regular performances throughout the year and won the Blaylock Cup at the Kootenay Music Festival in 1937 and 1938. Performances included parades, weekly concerts at the bandshell (Washington St and Columbia Ave) or the Father Pat Memorial (Queen St and Columbia Ave) as well as an annual concert. The Rossland City Band also notably travelled to Spokane, WA in February 1958 to play at the Warriors-Flyers hockey game.

If you have any photographs or information about the Rossland City Band, please consider contacting the Rossland Museum.