Landscapes of Freedom: A Tribute to our Veterans
The Helotes Area Community Band played a free concert in the city’s fire station to celebrate Veteran’s Day, which was Nov. 11. Nearly 300 people enjoyed classic military tunes such as “Yankee Doodle Dandy” and “The Star-Spangled Banner” during the Sunday afternoon concert.
Samantha Mireya Parada, 17, a junior at Helotes High School, attended the event with her mother and a friend from high school. Parada said she participated in the color guard to open the concert as a member of the Air Force ROTC at her high school. She said she loves events like this one and noted that she just got back from an unarmed drill competition where the Helotes High School team performed well. “We’re hosting the potluck after the concert,” she added.
Like Parada, most of the spectators were locals. However, Mustafa Abdel Rahman, 43, a graduate of the American University in Cairo, came to San Antonio from Egypt to visit friends on his way to a university panel in the Midwest. Rahman also enjoyed the open air music on the breezy 75 degree day.
A Guest from Egypt
As is common in North Africa, Rahman is multilingual, so he chatted with Parada’s mother in Spanish. “It’s been a long time that I haven’t been able to use Spanish,” he said. In addition to his native language of Arabic, he also speaks his wife’s language, German as well as English and Spanish. Rahman traveled that evening to Austin, then on to Minnesota for the academic conference before returning to his work in Egypt.
According to the program, the official title of the concert was “Landscapes of Freedom: A Tribute to our Veterans.”
The 60-member band sat inside the garage of the fire station with the doors open and the fire engines parked outside. Families, retirees, children and students filled the folded chairs in the fire station to enjoy the music. A couple of on duty Helotes police officers stood outside the door of the station to enjoy the music and the community comraderie. They had to stay close to the police headquarters in the next building to be able to respond to any calls for assistance.
Kuentz Elementary School Choir Sings
The crowd seemed to enjoy the band’s rendition of “The Ballad of the Green Berets,” which was performed as an audience sing-along. The Kuentz Elementary School choir provided vocals for some of the music, including “You’re a Grand Old Flag” and “America, the Beautiful.”
The Helotes Area Community Band was formed in July 2008 as a vision of Mayor Tom Schoolcraft, according to the band website. A statement on the site announces: “We are proud that we now have over 60 members, and have advanced in ability to be able to play band literature that appeals to many different tastes.”
Membership in the band is free and open to anyone who plays a wind, brass or percussion instrument, reads music and is ready to commit to a great musical experience, according to the information in the program’s schedule of events.
The band will have a series of three performances in December to play holiday music. The next performance is Dec. 2 at 6 p.m. in the Helotes City Hall. The concerts are free to public.
Helotes is a city of 8,000 just outside the northwest side of San Antonio.
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