Col. John R. Bourgeois director emeritus of “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, with emcee and mezzo soprano Sarah Sheffield, left, and jazz clarinetist Doreen Ketchens, right, at the Celebrate America Concert at Avon Hall last Saturday. (Photo/Luke Christopher)
Volunteers rally for July 3 ‘Celebrate America’s 250th Birthday Concert’
On a sunlit afternoon, retired Marine Col. John R. Bourgeois settled onto his Tiger Valley porch with a glass of chilled white wine, surrounded by antlers, flags and memorabilia. Will Full, a hunting hound, lounged nearby while Delilah, a once-feral cat, threaded her way among nearby ferns.
Despite the relaxed ambience, the longtime director of ”The President’s Own” United States Marine Band was dealing with a whirlwind of details, preparing for one of Rappahannock County’s beloved traditions: the Independence Day concert at Avon Hall on July 3 at 7:30 p.m. in the Town of Washington.
Musicians, stagemanagers and volunteers have been mobilizing in Rappahannock County and Washington, D.C. for the event, now in its 10th year.
Bourgeois was checking schedules, selecting music and troubleshooting problems during a recent interview. The Louisiana-born bandmaster was focusing on finding a pianist to accompany Doreen J. Ketchens, an acclaimed New Orleans jazz clarinetist slated to perform at the concert. The pianist they were counting on was unable to attend, and for the moment there was no Plan B.
By cellphone, Bourgeois was brainstorming with a retired Marine officer who had already recruited a full contingent of 70 musicians for the concert.
“She’s become almost a national treasure,” Bourgeois said of Ketchens following the call. “People are going wild for her.” Ten days later, Bourgeois announced with a smile: “We found a pianist in the area.”
The annual Bourgeois “Celebrate America” concerts have attracted hundreds of concertgoers to Avon Hall over the years. This year is the 10th anniversary of the popular free concert. (Photo/Luke Christopher)
Two numbers make this celebration special: The United States turns 250 in July, and Bourgeois turns 92 in August. A third significant figure will be the heat index on the day of the concert. Predictions of temperatures upwards of 100 degrees on the day of the concert have raised concerns, but planners say the band tunes will fill the Town of Washington as planned, while urging performers and attendees to dress for the heat and bring plenty of thirst-quenching drinks.
“Everybody watches the weather,” said Sara Sheffield, the concert’s star mezzo-soprano, and a chief warrant officer in the Marine Corps, who will sing a medley from the musical “Oklahoma.”
The heat and high humidity at two past concerts — they typically last at least one and a half hours without intermission — sent Bourgeois to the hospital because friends feared heat exhaustion or worse, heat stroke. The bandmaster was found to be depleted of fluids, but not in danger. In past years, friends and family members would stand by with ice water and cold towels while he conducted. In recent years he sports a special collar that sends cool air upwards to his face. Should he need to step back from the conductor’s stand, a temporary replacement will be at the ready.
From left to right: John Sullivan, Frank Raiter (Lions Club Treasurer) Audrey Regnery and Lions Club concert liaison Mike Wenger at Avon Hall, Regnery is explaining the new location of the stage that will will be at the pond this year. (Photo/Luke Christopher)
Rallying for music
Musicians and volunteers who have banded together for the event offer similar reasons why.
“The Number One reason why people want to do this is John Bourgeois,” said Andy Schuller, the retired Marine officer who recruits dozens of musicians.
In Rappahannock, Mike Wenger of Flint Hill organizes county volunteers to move music stands, the conductor’s podium and a load of drums and other percussive instruments loaned by the Rappahannock County Public Schools.
“Why does everyone do it? Speaking for myself, I love John Bourgeois,” he said.
No single organization masterminds the event.
Butch Zindel, a custom builder, who befriended the band leader at the informal “lunch-bunch” gatherings of Rappahannock men, recounted that eight years ago, “Bourgeois asked if I could build a stage for him at the concert. I said, ‘What do you need?’”
The longtime broker and community leader rented a stage, and oversaw its installation, covering the costs himself.
Cheryl Reisler applauds the performance with her husband Paul, the event’s sound engineer, seated behind. (Photo/Luke Christopher)
Audrey Regnery, co-owner of Greenfield Farm in Washington, takes responsibility for a sweep of logistics, including channeling contributions to the Rappahannock Lions Club Foundation. Since 2022, the organization has functioned as fiduciary agent, operating an account that accommodates tax-exempt donations to cover the musicians’ fees and some other costs.
Lions also handles parking, with Ralph Bates leading a crew that will manage cars pouring into a field near the concert space.
“It’s sort of infectious,” said Regnery of the efforts.
Beyond the finances, Regnery handles an array of other tasks: rented porta-potties; arrangements, with help from Rapp at Home, for elderly audience members; transportation and lodging for Ketchens, and late afternoon food for the musicians.
Mary Ann Kuhn, senior editor at the Rappahannock News and Foothills Forum, Bourgeois said, assists on a number of these tasks and “keeps me on my deadlines.”
In the spring, John Fox Sullivan, who considers Bourgeois his best friend, sends out a letter seeking contributions. Said Bourgeois: “He is the angel who summons the cherubim.”
This year, the former Washington mayor’s appeal brought in over $20,000.
Drew Mitchell, who owns Avon Hall, has been laboring to prepare the site for a new configuration, with the stage downhill by the Avon pond and the audience arrayed amphitheater-style on the rising hillside.
Mitchell, a designer who founded Fathom Creative, a branding and marketing firm in Washington, D.C., recalls that when he and his late husband Bill Fischer bought the property in 2016, they learned about the Fourth of July fireworks displays at Avon Hall during William Carrigan’s ownership from 1960 to 2000, a tradition fondly remembered by generations of local families.
After befriending Bourgeois, Mitchell said he began working with “a stellar committee of community volunteers to create a new Independence Day tradition that honored the spirit of the old one.”
Mitchell added: “Our names might be on the deed, but in the end, Avon Hall really belongs to everyone who has ever gathered here.”
Drew Mitchell, owner of Avon Hall, and Rappahannock Tree Preservation company workers, mounted an American flag on the barn at Avon Hall preparing for the concert festivities. From left: Joshua Williams, Drew Mitchell, Gary Hitt and John Hitt. (Photo/Carlos Izaguirre)
The Rappahannock Association for Arts and Community (RAAC) is lending chairs for the musicians and making a financial contribution to the event. Fire and rescue volunteers will grill hamburgers and hot dogs.
Songwriter Paul Reisler, founder of Kid Pan Alley, handles the entire sound system for the concert. His wife, Cheryl Reisler, sounds the cannon in Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, evoking the Battle of Borodino and Russia’s triumph over Napoleon’s army.
Bourgeois, impressed by her skills, has renamed the petite artist “Boom-Boom,” and arranged a second cannon blast this year in John Philip Sousa’s beloved march, “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”
Sousa presides
Sousa, who also led “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, will infuse the July 3 concert.
“Sousa is like a personal god to him,” said Mary Sherman Willis, who helped Bourgeois assemble his 2021 memoir, “Play On! A Marine’s Musical Journey from the Bayou to the White House.”
When Bourgeois began his career, he lived a few blocks from the house where the famed composer was born in 1854.
“He’s described as John Philip Sousa Two,” said Al Regnery, who attends weekly Sunday Mass with Bourgeois at St. Peter Catholic Church, followed by bacon and eggs in the Regnery kitchen.
The book “John Philip Sousa’s America” describes the famous composer and bandmaster in terms that could be applied to Bourgeois: “With a wave of a benevolent hand — an autocratically benevolent hand — Americans were somehow reassured that things were going to come out OK in the end.”
“Patriotic music is my life’s blood in a way,” Bourgeois said. “I’ve had 70 years of it.”
It isn’t an exaggeration to say that on July 3, he will become the music while the music lasts.
