Warm Reception Brings Military Band Back to Patterson
For weeks now, Patterson Town Supervisor Michael Griffin has been announcing the return of the 42ndInfantry Division military band for a free concert to be held at 7 p.m. this Saturday, July 21 at the Patterson Recreation Center.
“These people have played on the Mall in Washington. They have played at the Kennedy Center. So, the fact that Brian Benedict was able to get them to come to Patterson two years in a row is nothing short of miraculous,” Griffin said at a recent meeting. “I was blown away by the level of talent, the quality of it….it was like going to Lincoln Center.”
Benedict is the owner of The Duffel Bag on Route 311 in Patterson and is the organizer of many historical, military reenactments.
He worked his contacts in the military to bring the 42 Infantry Division band, which is a division of the U.S. National Guard and the U.S. Army, along with other musicians from the New York Guard, back to Patterson for an encore performance.
Although getting the band to return was a coup, they didn’t need to be convinced.
“They received such a warm reception from the people of Patterson,” Benedict said, explaining that, last year, a week before they came to Patterson, the band had played at a venue where few stopped and enjoyed the music.
Chair of the Patterson Parks Advisory Board Cari Weizenecker said at the town board meeting last week that her cousin Jared Anderson was among the uniformed musicians. A sergeant in the National Guard, he plays the trumpet and has done a tour of duty overseas.
Weizenecker said her cousin told her the band had played at Coney Island previous to coming to Patterson. On a terribly hot day, people strolled by and paid little attention.
“They were really happy to come back here,” she said of the highly enthusiastic response they received in Patterson, where old and young alike, enjoyed the show. “My daughter couldn’t sit still. She’s seven.”
Just like Weizenecker’s cousin, Benedict noted that many of the musicians in the band have served time overseas in the War on Terror.
“More than half of them have been overseas in combat areas,” he said. “Being in a band doesn’t protect you anymore from being on the front line.”
Last year, Benedict said the performance began with a brass quartet that played classical type music as people arrived and found a place to sit.
Then they played the Star Spangled Banner and then half of the band got up from their seats.
A smaller jazz band formed, that then morphed into a rock band and then later, the full band played patriotic music.
“You might think with a military band that it’s all military music. It’s not,” Benedict said.“I’m sitting there watching these guys and girls and I’m thinking they could cut a record.”
The doors to the recreation center will open at 6: 30 p.m. on Saturday and the music will start at 7 p.m. Refreshments will be for sale at the beginning of the show and during an intermission, after which the musicians will continue to entertain the crowd.
“If I were to make a suggestion, I know I’m going to put it on my calendar, you should put it on yours,” Griffin said.
As people enter, Benedict will be handing out American flags to kids. He said when the patriotic music starts up, the crowd loves it.
“That’s the feeling you got. People tapping their toes and waving flags. People get up and dance behind where the chairs are set up. It’s just a fun time and everybody loves it,” Benedict said. “It is the way a town should be; with all of the people getting together.”
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.