German-American musician Oscar Ameringer came to Circleville to form a boy’s band in 1900. Before the proliferation of music education in the schools, cadet bands provided musical training for budding young musicians. Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Friedman, proprietors of Friedman’s Bazaar, the leading local women’s clothing store, enrolled their two eldest sons Edgar and Theodore in the cadet band. Ten-year-old Ted started on the E-flat clarinet because his fingers were too short for a regular B-flat clarinet. Prof. Ameringer recalled years later, “Theodore couldn’t stay away from music.”

Circleville will once again come alive with patriotic marches, stirring overtures of Franz von Suppé, immortal songs of Stephen Foster, and other classics as The Ted Lewis Museum presents a concert in the beautiful Pickaway Amphitheater. Featuring selections from newly discovered 1900-01 Circleville Cadet Band programs that young Ted performed, this special concert will be performed by 20 of Central Ohio’s finest uniformed musicians under the direction of Joseph N. Rubin. With special guests the Times Past Vintage Dancers illustrating the latest dances of 1900, don’t miss this FREE trip back to the golden age of the concert band.