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Every other Tuesday during the summer, as the sun begins to set over Boerne's Main Plaza, the soundtrack could be mistaken for a village in Germany. And that's exactly the point.
According to Larry Schmidt, who plays trumpet, this band's been around a while.
"It's the oldest continuously performing German band outside of Germany, in the world, was formed in 1860 here in town by Mr. Dienger," Schmidt said.
In fact, the Dienger Building still stands overlooking Main Plaza and remains one of the town's most recognizable historic buildings.
Schmidt isn't just a trumpet hobbyist. He earned two music degrees.
"I graduated from college in 1970," he said. "Went into the Army band, played with the Army band for three years, came out, finished a master's, went to teaching, taught middle school band for 36 years in San Antonio."
But Schmidt's connection to the Boerne Village Band began long before college and his teaching career.
"I started when I was in the seventh grade, and it was so much fun to do that. It was exciting," Schmidt said.
And like many children from small German American towns, Schmidt grew up speaking German.
"I spoke nothing but German when I entered the first grade in school, and that was extremely difficult for me," he said.
With the Schmidt family, the Boerne Village Band is a family affair.
"My wife plays, our son plays, our daughter plays, our son-in-law plays," he said.
The public gets a chance to step back in time every other Tuesday during the summer to hear the band.
Phil Mason and his wife, Linda, regularly attend the Abendkonzerte, German for "evening concerts."
"This is the square, and we have the gazebo in the center with, and the band plays under the gazebo, and people bring their lawn chairs, and some of them bring a picnic," Mason said.
Linda said the number of years they've been coming speaks to the band's importance.
"Probably 30 plus," she said.
Cindy Stauder enjoys it all, but one tradition stands out.
"What's fun is they do the chicken dance, and then all the kids get up there and participate, and then they have the children's march," she said.
Stauder says time moves on, and traditions like these help connect Boerne to its past.
"You want to hold on to those things because you know Boerne is changing, it's growing, and those traditions like this are very important to hold on to," Stauder said.
Doug Bricker says the music and setting take you back.
"When I think of small-town Texas, this is what I think of, exactly this," Bricker said.
Larry Schmidt says every few years the Boerne Village Band travels to Germany to reconnect with its musical roots.
"We're going to start off in Germany. We have host people over there that help us help us find a tour, so we go from Germany to France to Switzerland and back to Germany," he said.
They're bringing their instruments because a small performance tour is part of the trip.
"We play four concerts while we're there. Some of the Germans join us and play with us," Schmidt said. "It's really fun, and you never know what you're going to get for a concert."
Before heading to Germany, the Boerne Village Band will perform one more Abendkonzerte on June 20. The tradition resumes July 28, when the musicians return to Main Plaza from their European tour.
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