Admission to the concert at the Paramount was free, but Director Joe Stephens said donations to the band’s endowment ensures its future, “The Endowment Fund was created to help the band in the future, not tonight or this week, but to pay for things that we need. Our budget probably runs perhaps as much as $10,000, it varies from year to year. So this will make it possible for the band to live on forever.”
Stephens says that when people graduate from school, it can be difficult for them to find a place to play music, “The Abilene Community Band is where you or I or anybody that’s ever been in the band can come join and play and it’s amazing how being back in band again is just like being home.” Stephens says he hopes that, with enough public support, it will continue to provide musicians with that feeling for many years to come.