H.J. Crosby Community Band holiday concerts

DEXTER — It’s the holiday season, a time of traditions, a time spent with family and friends. And so the Harold J. Crosby Community Band of Dexter extends its tradition of presenting a holiday concert to the people of Piscataquis and Penobscot counties. This year the band will be taking the audience, as is appropriate for the season, on a sleigh ride.
This free, cabaret-style concert will be on Dec. 18 at 2 p.m. at the Dexter Town Hall. Refreshments will be provided while enjoying the music of the season.
This year’s sleigh ride theme features four pieces — “Holiday Sleigh Ride,” “Minka’s Sleigh Ride,” “The Runaway Sleigh” and the traditional “Sleigh Ride” by Leroy Anderson. The band will also be performing some traditional music “Coventry Carol,” “The Little Drummer Boy” and a “Christmas Canticle” as well as some more contemporary pieces in Christmas from the 1950s and “The Spinning Dreidel.” The concert will conclude with a sing-a-long of popular holiday favorites and the band’s traditional encore “White Christmas.”
To prepare for this holiday concert, besides the hours of weekly rehearsals, the band will perform a dress rehearsal on Dec. 13 at 6:45 p.m. at the Guilford United Methodist Church. This performance will be a community benefit concert for Guilford fuel assistance. Donations will be graciously accepted.
Following the HJ Crosby Community Band’s concert on Dec. 18, the holiday traditions will continue at the First Baptist Church of Dexter at 4 p.m. with a Christmas Cantata. The Greater Dexter Community Choir will be performing “Go Tell it on the Mountain” by Pepper Choplin. The church is located across from the Dexter Town Hall.