The first Great Bend City Band concert of the summer was combined with a show featuring the Kansas Army National Guard’s 35th Infantry Division Band.

The free program was originally set to take place outdoors but because of electrical problems at the band shell, sponsors moved across the street to the Crest Theatre.

Emcee Justin Engleman said this is the City Band’s 141st season. Kurtis Koch directed Thursday, and there will be a different director every week as the concert series continues. The National Guard band was directed by CW2 Rachel Anderson, band commander.

Each band played a set, and then the combined bands performed “Home on the Range” and “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”

First Sgt. Todd Hollis, senior enlisted NCO, also played “Taps” at the end of the City’s Band’s rendition of the tribute piece “Purple Heart.”

First Sgt. Hollis has ties to Great Bend. Growing up, he often visited his grandparents, Harold and Mills Hollis. Harold worked for the Kansas Corporation Commission and at Parrish Moters; Mills was a Red Cross representative. As a boy, Todd Hollis was featured in an issue of the Great Bend Tribune with his father Rodney Hollis, showing off a baseball card collection.

The City Band’s set also included the “Serenade for Trumpet,” which was dedicated to a former City Band director, Mark DeWald, who passed away in 2025. DeWald also taught band at Great Bend High School and other Kansas schools for a total of 45 years.

The bands performed marches as well as popular tunes; after the opening “Star Spangled Banner,” the City Band launched into “Hogan’s Heros March,” from the television show “Hogan’s Heros.” The National Guard Band and played popular music, including a Beatles medley and the music of John Denver, with vocals. Then the band members asked for some audience participation as they played the “Armed Forces Salute,” with the official march songs of the branches of service. Audience members were asked to stand for a branch if they or a family members served in it, with soldiers walking through the crowd and shaking those people’s hands.

Band Commander Anderson said she is thankful for today’s armed forces, where every member has signed up voluntarily. As for the National Guard Army Band, its members are all civilian soldiers with civilian jobs. They serve one weekend a month and two weeks a year, and are on a two-week tour. Upcoming tour stops are June 6 in Liberal and June 7 in Greensburg. All concerts are free.

At the end of the program, the band recognized three people who were instrumental in making the event happen: Kurtis Koch and his wife Debbie Koch, along with Luke Abbott with Great Bend Community Theatre.

Upcoming City Band concerts

The Great Bend City Band will continue to offer free concerts on Thursdays in June and July. Shows start at 8:15 p.m. at the Thelma Fay Harms Stage at the Moses Band Shell in Jack Kilby Square, weather permitting. In case of inclement weather or other issues, the concerts move indoors to the Crest Theatre at 1905 Lakin Ave. The City Band’s Big Band Concert is scheduled for Friday, June 19, at the Crest Theatre.

About the 35th Infantry Division Band

Members of the Kansas Army National Guard live in Kansas and maintain civilian careers or attend school while serving part-time. The band has immediate vacancies for flute, clarinet, vocalist, guitar, horn and percussion. For more information contact recruiter SFC Craig Hudson, 785-213-2049, email craig.a.hudson6mil@army.mil.