Warm-up tunes and practice notes began to draw a small crowd around the City Beach gazebo on Thursday afternoon.

Getting themselves situated, members of the All-Island Concert Band fiddle with their instruments and music.

As it draws closer to 7 p.m., when the band is scheduled to start playing, music lovers, beachcombers, park-goers and dog-walkers wander over and settle themselves around the band. Those who had planned to make the band part of their evening pull out lawn chairs and blankets, and those who just wandered by lounge on the grass and picnic tables.

In the the afternoon’s orange sunlight the brass instruments glow and the silver shines. The band’s conductor, George Konopik, turns around and welcomes everyone to relax and enjoy the entertainment.

“Were going to play a little Dixieland for you now,” he said.

As the tunes play, friends visit quietly, small dogs romp around with other small dogs, two little girls attempt to make graceful hops and skips with the music and two boys chase each other in a mock sword fight.

Konopik said the band is made up of local musicians who practice together every Thursday during the school year at the Oak Harbor Middle School and perform every Thursday during the summer at the City Beach gazebo.

He said all performances at the beach are volunteer and solely for the enjoyment of the community.

The band also plays for other events throughout the year such as parades, Holland Happening and National Night Out, which is coming up Aug. 2 at City Beach Park.

“We play for a lot of things throughout the year,” Konopik said.

He said the All-Island Concert Band has been around since 1968, with different band members coming and going throughout the years. The band currently has 15 to 25 band members showing up for weekly performances.

And depending on the weather, Konopik said concert attendance can range anywhere from several people to a large group like the one that attended last Thursday night. He said much of it depends on the weather and sunny afternoons bring more people to the beach.

Among Thursday’s guests were a couple, Randy and Joanne Perin, visiting Whidbey Island from Arizona.

“It was very nice,” Randy Perin said. “The dogs were enthusiastic about it and everybody had a good time.”

Joanne Perin said she and her husband found Oak Harbor an enjoyable place to visit and that she thought the time she, her husband and their small dog spent listening to the All-Island Concert Band was a pleasant way to spend a summer afternoon.