By Rhonda Rivera

What could Windows 1.0, America Online (AOL), Jordan Brand (Air Jordan), and the motion picture The Goonies possibly have in common with our own Atascadero Community Band? This year, they all celebrate their 40th anniversary!

Just think, in 1985, as many of us were learning how to use Windows, whether for school or work, Anne Tognazzini (baritone saxophone) approached Bob Best, the Department Head of Parks and Recreation for the City of Atascadero, hoping to start a community band. The Recreation Department announced the band in local media, and the rest, they say, is history. Creating a community band did not take a Herculean effort, just a few people with the desire and tenacity to simply begin.

Tognazzini connected with Gil Dovalina (saxophone), who was on staff with the city recreation department. Together, along with a small group of interested musicians, they met for the first time at Atascadero High School in September of 1985. Earliest members would have included Charlie Buck, Linda and Chris Preston, Donna Feaver, Chuck Wilbur, Irene Bishop, Ken Cave, Ken Schmutz, and Gil Dovalina. By 1988, there were about 30 members. An early band motto was “Bring a friend!”

The membership of the band grew steadily following that initial meeting, mainly through word of mouth. Rehearsals switched to Atascadero Junior High School. The first performance took place in December for the downtown Tree Lighting Ceremony and was conducted by Charlie Buck (Atascadero News, Dec. 11, 1985). By the following June, the band had named the first Director of ACB: Sam Shliff. That same month marked the first performance of the band at the Atascadero Lake Park, on a Saturday afternoon. The Atascadero News reported that about 200 people attended a free concert, part of the 1986 Concert in the Park Series offered by the Atascadero Recreation Department and the wineries of Paso Robles. That afternoon, the band played pieces by John Philip Sousa, Henry Mancini, and others.

As requests to perform all over the county increased, and membership of the band grew, the founding members pursued incorporation as a tax-exempt entity. In 1991, the Atascadero Community Band became an independent corporation as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) Public Benefit corporation.

Over the years, the band has had the good fortune to welcome many conductors to the podium. From 1986 through 1993, Shliff directed the band. In 1994, George Beatie, a retired music professor from Cal Poly, took over the directorship. Beatie led the band in a more sophisticated direction, purchasing new music and even working in collaboration with the Atascadero Kiwanis to build the existing bandstand at the Atascadero Lake Park. This has been the gift that continues to give each and every summer, as many bands take the stage in 90-plus-degree heat.

In the new millennium, Ernie Kapphahn, Ken Schmutz, and Charlie Buck shared conducting honors. Buck directed the 70-plus-member Atascadero High School band room. Since September of 2023, the band has welcomed guest conductors from the local area for each concert. In 2024 and beyond, the band’s newly reformed Artistic Committee continues to select fantastic and exciting new thematic programs, attracting a wonderful array of local present and retired band directors as guest conductors for the ACB.

How does a community band continue to drive membership, along with a loyal and generous audience for 40 years? Everyone is welcome. There are no auditions to participate, it is free to join, and there is no baseline for skill level other than knowing how to play an instrument and read music. There is ample encouragement for everyone, whether a musician is a current professional, someone who has stepped away from practicing for 30 years, or is a current student.

That simple decree—everyone is welcome—is what attracts so many to the band, and keeps so many returning, year after year, whether audience member or musician. The band offers four thematic indoor benefit concerts, a joint Atascadero Middle School and ACB performance, and of course the magical Tuesday Evenings in the Park, a 10–11 week summer series of one-hour performances on Tuesday nights at the Atascadero Lake Park.

After Buck’s retirement, rehearsals were moved to the AHS bandroom, and guest conductors were invited to direct the band. From 2016 to June of 2023, Randy Schwalbe could be found at the podium. Schwalbe led the band through the turbulent COVID times, challenging the band to continue rehearsing even outdoors, through extremes of summer heat and winter weather, until the county allowed the band to return to its “home.”

2025 is no exception, as the band triumphantly completed its 39th summer season at the Atascadero Lake Park. The formal, indoor concert season will begin with a 40th Anniversary concert extravaganza on October 26 at 3 p.m. at the Atascadero Bible Church. Mark your calendars, and prepare to take a little trip down memory lane as the band rediscovers its own history, celebrates the journey thus far, and enthusiastically welcomes the next 40 years ahead.

For more information about joining the band, attending concerts, or supporting the band, please visit atascaderoband.org

ATASCADERO NEWS MAGAZINE

Copies of Atascadero News Magazine are directly delivered to 11,500 readers in zip codes 93422, 93432, and 93453 and 1,500 dropped with support from advertisers and subscribers. Together, we are Making Communities Better Through Print.™

To subscribe or advertise, click here.