Municipal bands in Cape Girardeau and Jackson are preparing for annual concerts which have been summer tradition in both communities since the 1920s.

The Cape Girardeau Municipal Band season begins with a patriotic salute to area veterans on Memorial Day. The concert will be at 7 p.m. Monday at the Capaha Park bandshell.

The Jackson band's first concert will be at 8 p.m. June 3 at the bandshell in the Jackson City Park.

Concerts are free. Those attending should bring lawn chairs or blankets.

Jackson's band started in 1920. Cape Girardeau's Municipal Band began in 1926. The city had a band prior to that, but it wasn't an official municipal band.

Nick Leist will be at the Jackson podium for his 32nd season.

Ron Nall returns as the Cape Girardeau band's conductor for the sixth year.

The Cape Girardeau band performs at 8 p.m. each Wednesday starting June 10 at the bandshell. The final concert is set for Aug. 11.

In Jackson, concerts are held at 8 p.m. each Thursday night. The season finale will be played during Jackson's annual Homecomers celebration in August.

The bands feature celebrity guest conductors and special musical entertainers, but it's the band music that attracts a crowd.

The outdoor concerts regularly draw 250 to 400 people at Capaha Park. The Jackson concerts typically bring 150 to 200 people.

"We have a good mix of musicians," Nall said. Dan Cotner has been with the band the longest, starting in 1944. Some members of the band are Central High School students starting their first season.

"We have area band directors, students from SEMO," Nall said. "It's really is a nice mix." In all, the band numbers between 45 and 50.

To prepare for each week's concert, the band rehearses one time on Monday evening.

In Jackson, the band includes a majority of adult community members with a few college and high school students. It numbers between 50 and 55 musicians, Leist said. They rehearse on Tuesday for Thursday's concert.

This year, the Cape Girardeau band has been invited to perform at the Missouri Band Masters Summer Conference June 27 at the Lake of the Ozarks.

Each year, the conference hears a municipal band from somewhere in the state.

"This is the first time we've left town in many years," Nall said. "We don't often leave the bandshell."

Cape Girardeau's Memorial Day program includes traditional American and patriotic music, including a salute to the armed forces.

The program also includes "Stars and Bars," "Southwest Saga," "Circus Days," "Tribute to Glenn Miller," "National Emblem March," "You're a Grand Old Flag," "Stars and Stripes Forever" and a medley of Richard Rodgers show tunes.

Jackson's opening concert features baritone Johnson Stewart. Among the band's selections are a collection of George Gershwin hits, some John Phillips Sousa marches, "A Gallop to end all Gallops," and two polkas, "Tritsch-Tratsch Polka" and "Beer Barrel Polka."