Front row: Robert Haugh, Claude Gemmill, Elmer Conrad, Howard Haugh, Daniel Douglas. Middle row: Luther Keeports, Curvin Markel, Frank Hake, James Thompson, William Conrad, Henry Shewell, Ed Shelley, Joseph Stermer. Back row: Roy Gemmill, L.D. Sangrey, Emory Beck, Ernest “Tom” Moore, Harvey Haugh, William Arnold, Bertus Curren, Purde Kohler.
Not the same type of band, like the Conrad’s Cornet Band, pictured above, c.1913, but there will still be good music (see flier below) and lots of church-picnic-type food: chicken corn and ham bean soups, homemade pies and cakes, hot beef sandwiches, hot dogs, ice cream… at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church this Thursday . I’ll be manning (womanning?) the cold-soup-by-the-quart-to-take-home window, starting about noon, so stop by and say “Hi.” (The dining room is air-conditioned.)
About the photo:
It is a real-photo post card, so there are probably duplicates around. It is from my mother’s photo album, and Edwin Shelley, middle row, second from right is my grandfather. Friend Jean Robinson had Meda Stermer (b.1901) identify the band members some years ago.
Conrad’s (pronounced Coon-rods, not Con-rads) is another name for New Bridgeville, Chanceford Township.
Click the links below for previous St. Luke’s posts.
Another early St. Luke picnic photo.
Chicken corn soup and Harley Davidson.
St. Luke cemetery records.
St. Luke’s Lutheran Church history.
York, Pa., really is the center of the universe, especially when you consider its place in historical events. Local historian June Lloyd looks at how things have converged on our hometown, past and present. 
As a kid I loved the local bands. I spent the first 5.5 years of my life in Mifflin, Juniata Co., which had a firemean’s band. My uncle Bob played the piccolo in it. He always said he chose the piccolo because when he wasn’t playing he cuffed it in one hand and slipped it up his sleeve so he didn’t have to carry anything– like some of the other members with larger horns.
I always wondered–why were some of the local bands called ‘coronet’ bands. I see that instrument in photos but there’s also several other different horns.
Good question, Jo, as always. Was the cornet the lead instrument?
Grandpa did have a cornet, but he is holding a larger horn in the photo. I was upset when my parents didn’t buy Grandpa’s cornet for me when my grandmother had public sale. I was a young teenager and I guess I wanted it for sentimental reasons, because I am not at all musical, even though I took piano lessons for some years. (They didn’t buy the Weaver parlor organ for me either!)
Your uncle Bob, the piccolo player, sounds pretty smart.