Community Volunteer Awards
2022 Honoree
River City Concert Band
Distinguished Community Service Organization
River City Concert Band
Volunteer effort begins with a single act by an individual. Multiply it by 60, and throw in some horns and drums, and you really have something.
You have the all-volunteer Rancho Cordova River City Concert Band.
A famous person once said that a painter paints pictures on canvas, but musicians paint their pictures on silence. What an apt description, and worth contemplating -- what would it be like if there was no music?
That was the situation prior to 2012, when the Cordova Community Council was in search of a community band, and the River City Concert Band was in search of a community.
The two entities collided and the rest, as they say, is history.
Today, the Rancho Cordova River City Concert Band is an independent non-profit organization of volunteer musicians who donate their time and talents to present musical concerts around the Sacramento area. Many of the band members who began with the River City Concert Band have been playing together for more than 30 years.
Rancho Cordova is home base and certain community events would not be the same without them. But even when the band is “on the road,” they are representing our community. And having a community band of this caliber says something about us.
This year, the band will celebrate the 10th Anniversary of their Rancho Cordova musical journey. Along the way, the band has enhanced the image of our city and provided hours of enjoyment to our citizens – whether in a park, a grocery store food court, a concert hall or virtually through a worldwide pandemic.
Over the decade, the band has:
- Hosted a national convention of concert bands here in Rancho Cordova.
- They set up their music stands at KP International Market, growing the odd, but lovable Rancho Cordova tradition of grocery store concerts. They are the musical backbone of Rancho Cordova’s moving Memorial Day observance.
- When the pandemic shut down the ability to perform before live audiences, they pivoted to produce monthly virtual performances and shared them with Rancho Cordova and the world. This garnered the attention of the National Association of Concert Bands, the premiere umbrella organization for all community bands in the United States, who asked them to present a panel discussion to an international audience about how to be a band when bands are banned!
What may be the most wonderful part of the Rancho Cordova River City Concert Band, however, is the inclusive and welcoming tradition established over the past 10 years.
They welcome musicians of all ages – current members range in age from 13 to 93, of all talents and experience levels. They come from all walks of life supporting each other to become the best they can be. Under the direction of Conductor Tom Seaton, our band piles up thousands of volunteer hours to make music with each other – and we get to enjoy it.
Thank you to the Rancho Cordova River City Concert Band, on the occasion of your 10th Anniversary, for being a constant reminder that we are at our best when we are in harmony. You are the 2022 Distinguished Community Service Organization. Bravo!
