Today's Karl King Band

The Karl L. King Municipal Band of Fort Dodge, Iowa

The Karl King Band is the municipal band for Fort Dodge, Iowa. This ensemble has historically provided a summer concert series in the Karl King Bandshell in beautiful Oleson Park and an indoor concert series held in the auditorium of Iowa Central Community College. These concerts are free to all, and are provided as a service by the City of Fort Dodge. Jerrold P. Jimmerson is the Director of the King Band, and Dr. David Klee serves as the band's Assistant Conductor. Learn more about the Band and visit the online archive of photos related to the history of the Karl L. King Municipal Band of Fort Dodge, Iowa.

The Karl L. King Municipal Band invites you to like them on Facebook.

The King Band performed for the 2017 Preserve Iowa Summit.   Learn more ...

COMING this Winter
The Karl L. King Municipal Band will resume again in February, with the first of three indoor winter concerts. Concert dates in 2019 are February 17 for the Karl L. King Birthday concert, March 17 for the Irish Concert, and April 7 for the Scholarship/Focus Series concert. All these concerts will be held in the Decker Auditorium on the Iowa Central Community College campus, beginning at 3:30 pm each Sunday afternoon.

June 10 performance   -   June 17 performance   -   June 24 performance   -   July 15 performance - Season Finale

KARL KING BAND PERFORMED IN SPENCER:
     The nationally-known Karl L. King Municipal Band of Fort Dodge Ia, was invited to join the 100th anniversary celebration of the Clay County Fair in Spencer on September 17 last year. Karl L. King and the Fort Dodge Municipal Band were regular fixtures at that fair each year, beginning in 1922 and continuing to the close of the 1959 season. This photo shows Karl King and his band in front of their tent camp at the 1928 Clay County Fair.

(You may click image to see the page giving identities of those pictured.)
Karl King is in the center of the photo, between the two sousaphone players.

The King Band last appeared at the Fair in Spencer for the 75th anniversary in 1992.
The Karl King Band performed in the Grandstand that evening, beginning with a pre-concert at 6:30 pm before the main celebration starts at 7:00 pm. Check the King Band Facebook page for more.

The first concert of the 2017 Winter season of the
Karl L. King Municipal Band of Fort Dodge was held Sunday afternoon, February 19.
The last Sunday Program of the 2017 Summer season was held July 30.
Click to see the King Band's appearance at the 2015 IBA State Conference.
Jimmerson took Dr. Golemo's place on week in 2015, conducting the Ames Municipal Band.
Open House celebrated 150 years held in the Fort Dodge Public Library Meeting Room.

     Several years ago, CIRCUS POSTERS were made into U.S. postage stamps.

The Karl L. King Municipal Band of Fort Dodge is seen during a practice session
before taking the stage.
- - - - - - - -

The 2014, 2015 and 2016 Winter and Summer Concert Series
May be viewed in our Concert Archive

View a video of the band performing Karl King's march, Bon Voyage. (60 MB mpg format)

View photos of the bandshell during the renovation process.
View concert photos from previous seasons
Concert Archive

Dr. Mike Golemo, several times guest conductor at the summer concerts

Fort Dodge's newest monument was dedicated in a ceremony held October 22, 2006. The life-size monument to famed band composer and director, Karl L. King, was placed in the Karl L. King Park in downtown Fort Dodge and was first seen by the public following an open house of the Karl King Archives.
The dedication ceremony included a program by the Karl L. King Municipal Band and the introduction of special guests and an address by former Fort Dodge mayor, Judge Albert Habhab. - program photos - 2006 Open House

Statue proposed - Statue in progress - Statue mounting process - Dedication speakers - Dedication program


	Deann Haden-Luke's original musical that uses Karl King music has been published! *View Cardiff* information on the Heuer Publishing website.** Cardiff Announcement Cardiff 2006 Premiere


What's New with the Band? The Karl King Band was the featured performing ensemble for the 2006 Summer Meet of Windjammers, Unlimited. - photos - 2016 Scholarship Concert 2017 Scholarship Concert		The 2018 Karl King Scholarship winner was Nic Englin of Rockwell City, *who performed Beautiful Colorado* on his Euphonium.**


The Karl King Band performed in the Iowa State Capitol to promote a postage stamp in his honor.		Iowa Public Radio's Rick Fredericksen interviewed Oley about Karl King.

Those with fast internet will enjoy an mpg video of McNamara's Band (56 mb) from 2009 winter's Irish Concert.

USAToday featured the Karl King Band in an article published March 29, 2009.

View photos of previous concert seasons.

The Iowa Chapter of the American Institute of Architects has included the Karl King Bandshell in a list of Iowa's most significant structures. Iowa Public Television has produced and aired a 40 minute excerpt from its 2 hour documentary featuring those structures, entitled A Century of Iowa Architecture. The entire documentary was shown in the spring of 2005.

The band has acquired an equipment vehicle.

click to enlarge

(click to enlarge)

Dr. Timothy Rhea, director of bands at Texas A & M University
in College Station, was the special guest conductor for the 2012 June 24 concert.

You can download and view two short videos of Karl King's The Walking Frog galop performed by the Karl King Band. They are in .mov format (Quicktime) and each is about 8 MB in size.

Walking Frog excerpt 1 - Walking Frog excerpt 2

New information and photos of Carl Quist, first director of the band now known as the Karl King Band have recently been received from Mr. Quist's grandson and are archived on this website.

Download a short mpg clip of the July 6, 2003, finale of Stars and Stripes Forever (3 MB .mpg).

Download a short mpg clip of the King Band playing Americans We (1.4 MB .mpg).

This page is available as KarlKingBand.org


the Karl King Page	*Concert Season Archive*	*Online Photo Archive*