By Sara Beth Williams–
The Citrus Heights Community Marching Band celebrated its 20th anniversary last Wednesday with a concert at the future site of the Kathy Cook Memorial Amphitheater located at Rusch Park.
Marching band families and friends joined together to listen to multiple songs from the band as they celebrated both their 20th anniversary and the birthday of their late founder, Kathy Cook, who passed away in 2021.
Situated inside blue lines that indicated the outline of the future stage, the band played multiple patriotic tunes, a few 70s tunes, compilations from “Star Trek” and “Wicked,” and the theme to the hit Disney show, “Mandalorian.”
Marching band member Steven Smith, who has been with the band since 2019, said he is “super excited” about the prospect of the memorial amphitheater becoming a reality.
“We’ve been really working diligently with the community to try and boost our presence in the community and get lots of donors to help us make this dream come to fruition,” Smith said, adding that he’s on the band’s fundraising committee.
Progress on bringing the memorial amphitheater to the park was first pitched to Sunrise Recreation and Park District in 2022 and has been slow going, according to several band leaders and Citrus Heights City Council members, but the band celebrated a win Wednesday night, announcing that a bid for construction has been released.
Citrus Heights Marching Band Executive Director Bill Cook, who has been working with the park district extensively, is hopeful that the project will break ground sometime this summer.
Following the band’s finale “fight song,” the band invited attendees to enjoy complimentary hot dogs, soda, and chips in honor of the organization’s birthday.
Mayor Jayna Karpinski-Costa, along with Cook, recounted the first year the community band marched together down Sunrise Boulevard during one of the city’s annual parades. Cook said the marching band began with only 13 members. The band has grown significantly in the last two decades, with a nine-year-old as its youngest member and a 96-year-old as its oldest member, according to Smith.
Karpinski-Costa said she had been serving as a city council member then and added she was “so proud” of what Kathy Cook had accomplished in founding the community marching band.
The band is continuing to raise money in order to fund the construction of the new musical venue. Residents can help fund the project by purchasing commemorative bricks, according to a flyer handed out by the band on Wednesday night. Tiers of donations include $100, $225, and $500. For more information or inquiries on how to donate, visit the community band’s website.
