CityView Magazine

24 | October/November • 2009 "They both play with the Salvation Army Band and they asked me to play carols with them," he said. From there, the Howards recruited him for the Bavarian Brass Band. "So, I went out and bought a flugelhorn." For Manning, playing in the Bavarian Brass Band is a stress reliever. "I have a good time. This is my relaxation from the office and work, to make music with people I enjoy." Retired Col. Omer Paquette has been with the band since it started the first time in 1991. He's played the trumpet on and off for the past 60 years and provides the band's accent and solo pieces. Paquette, too, has played with other groups, including the Moore County Concert Band and the local 11 th Regimental Band, a Civil War re-enactment band. The retired Army dentist was stationed for seven years in Germany where he got his "taste" for polka music. After he retired in 1983, Paquette re- immersed himself in music. As for the Bavarian Brass Band, Paquette says it plays many of the old tunes that people enjoy. "We get a good reaction," he said. Last year, the band performed at the Savannah River Fest in front of an audience of 30,000 people. "That was a feather in our hat," Bill Howard said. This year, the group played at the International Folk Festival, Fourth Friday and will make appearances at several local German restaurants, VFWs and country clubs. Patrons are sure to request such favorites as the "Beer Barrel Polka," "Edel Weiss," "In Heaven There is No Beer," and, of course, the tune for the famous Chicken Dance. Group member Siggy Long will lead the arm-flapping processions while her husband, Ken, plays the low-sounding euphonium. Ken Long, who played with the original band from 1991 through 1998 and was instrumental in its rebirth in 2001, says the Bavarian Brass Band is more widely known in Moore County and other places such as Savannah and Helen, Ga. "Fayetteville hasn't known us well outside the German community," he said. But Bill Howard hopes to change that. "We are one of the most best-kept secrets in Fayetteville." CV

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