Music Festival Draws Crowds And Inspires Musicians

Ben Davis during the Wednesday performance on the city square.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – Downtown was filled with the unmistakable sounds of violins and more, as several professional musicians made the lunch hour an unforgettable one for over 100 people.

Those musicians are part of the Oskaloosa Music Festival which is in its eighth year, and Ben Davis shows little sign of slowing down when it comes to giving back to his community.

The festival is a two-week set of activities, in which Davis and a dozen of his professional colleagues put on concerts around Oskaloosa, which started off on Wednesday with the picnic concert.

Other performances were at the YMCA, Crystal Heights, Smokey Row and finishing the week with a Masterworks Recital at the First Presbyterian Church.

Davis says the Oskaloosa Music Festival got its start when Davis was in college and first started to play chamber music. “I just decided I’m going to come back to my home town and put on a concert because I love this music and I want to share it with the place that gave me my roots in music.”

After that first year, a local business owner asked Davis how the performances could happen again. “We did it again the next year. Improved a couple of things, got a little more organized. And then each year we’ve been adding to it, improving upon it; and now we have two weeks of activity,” added Davis.

Davis credits the many opportunities with music in the community for helping to develop into the musician he is now. “It is something that makes this town absolutely unique. The fact that I could have the opportunity growing up to have an orchestra program. A lot of towns this size don’t have an orchestra program.”

“One [orchestra program] of such high quality Bruce and Denise McLellan run,” said Davis.

The symphony orchestra, city band, choirs, jazz bands, “there’s just so much musical activity in this town, it kind of gave me that launch and it’s kind of nice to come back and be just another piece of that puzzle that is Oskaloosa’s musical heritage,” added Davis.

Davis and the other professionals give the students who participate an opportunity to further develop and grow. A group that practiced with Davis last year decided to stay together during the year since then, and has since enjoyed success by earning recognition for their talents in a competition. “They worked with us that summer, and kept it going all year round. That’s what we really love seeing. We’re not just coming in for a week-and-a-half, two weeks, and disappearing. The effect that we’re having with the community and the students and the schools and other community members, they are carrying it throughout the year. That’s at the heart of what we are doing. To make music something we do as a lifelong pursuit, no matter how old or young you are.”

You can find out more about the Oskaloosa Music Festival at this website – https://www.oskaloosamusicfestival.com/