TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — The Terre Haute Community Band has performed many concerts throughout the summer season but has announced the final concert of the year is this week. 

On Saturday, August 12, the Terre Haute Community Band along with the Wabash Valley Area Band will be putting on free performances for the community to enjoy. The Wabash Valley Area Band will start at 7:00 p.m. and the Terre Haute Community Band will begin at 8:00 p.m. in Fairbanks Park. The theme for the final performance is Back Home Again in Indiana. 

Starting out as an open-call pep band made up of 40 community members during a 1992 basketball tournament, the Wabash Valley Area Band was established and decided to continue the tradition and play together as a band. 

For the concert, the Terre Haute Community Band will be performing songs written by Indiana composers, including some of the local members of the band. Jack Nesser, a senior at West Vigo High School and flutist in the band has written several compositions and will be premiering a new piece titled “Tiger” at the final concert. Professor of Music at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College and band tuba player, Dr. John McIntyre, was commissioned to organize Back Home Again in Indiana for the THCB. 

A former professor of music at Indiana State University, the late Dr. David Watkins, had also been commissioned to arrange Paul Dresser’s “On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away,” the Indiana state song. Dr. Watkins played the horn for the THCB for many years. 

Music lovers in the area are encouraged to come out and enjoy the performances.