Monte Blome, researcher and author.

The Cowboy Band has been a corner stone of the 4th of July events at Belle Fourche, SD, for nearly 60 years. The Cowboy Band has become a legend in its own time, playing at the Roundup and other annual events.

The history of municipal bands in Belle Fourche dates back to the first band in 1897. There were also bands in 1910 and 1912. In 1922 a band was organized under the direction of Charles McClung, Jr. Nine years later, in 1931, L.C. Morrison asked the Chamber of Commerce and the Roundup committee for more financial support. They responded and in June of that year the municipal band was transformed into the first Cowboy Band. Under the direction of Charles McClung, this band had 26 members consisting of newly graduated high school students and military band members from WWI.

Charlie McClung, at one time was a trumpet player in the John Philip Sousa Band in Chicago. He both directed and participated in the Cowboy Band until sometime after the second World War. Members of the band say he was a good musician and band instructor. Everyone liked him. He not only instructed the Cowboy Band here, but also the Spearfish high school and college bands. He directed until his sight was so bad that he had to step aside. Some of the other band directors through the years have been Bob Bartelt, Russell Olmsted, Vic Fondy, Charles Peyton, Gene Melton, Wayne Shuck, Daryl Umenthum, and Jim Cargill.

The first Cowboy Band uniforms consisted of western hats, white shirts, and white pants with black belt-loops. In the early 1960`s band members wore red and white striped shirts and leather chaps. They didn`t wear cowboy boots. During the 1970`s, a band director checked out the chaps for band members to use, but he didn`t check them back in. Due to this, over thirty pairs of expensive chaps were lost. When the band reformed in 1986, they didn`t have enough chaps for all of the players. The city donated funds for the material for new chaps. Jerry and Duffy Croft, of Croft`s Saddlery, are true Cowboy Band supporters. They donated their time and made thirty pairs of chaps.

Many others have supported the band in one way or another. The band members feel that they probably would not have had a band without the support of people like Jerry Booth, who was a jeweler downtown. Whenever they went to him about going somewhere, or needing some funds, Jerry always helped out. Freeman Mortimer, another supporter, always passes the hat at the band shell for donations for the band. People have been very generous to the Cowboy Band.

A big event for the band was in 1932 when Tom Berry, the governor of South Dakota, was invited to come out and be an official guest of the Roundup. Charlie McClung dressed the whole band in cowboy attire, boots, chaps, and black and white shirts, and big hats. He thought that might humor the governor. The governor liked it so well that he decided that was going to be his band, so he called it the Governors Band. He ordered the band to come out for an all expenses paid trip to Huron to play at the State Fair. For many years after that, the band traveled there.

One of the largest events the band has ever played at during its many years was the balloon launch at the Stratosphere Bowl in 1935. Located near Rockerville, South Dakota, the Stratosphere Bowl was the site of an altitude experiment done by the National Geographic Society and the U.S. Army. They set a altitude record of over 72,000 feet. Irma Dungey, one of the oldest members, recalls eating with a Captain Anderson and the rest of the soldiers in the mess hall. While eating, she sat between Captain Anderson and a major. They filled her plate with mashed potatoes and what looked like gravy. She took a big bite of her potatoes and discovered that they were covered with chocolate pudding instead of gravy. She nearly spit it out on the table. It tasted terrible. She hated chocolate pudding any way. Did they ever laugh. They just had a good time over that. They sent her plate back to the kitchen to get her another one. She watched so they wouldn`t put chocolate pudding on the next one!

The band has made some long trips on occasion. Once the band played at the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo in Colorado Springs in 1949. It was a three or four day event.

There were band concerts in a gazebo, located on the west side of 5th Avenue across the street from todays` Common Cents. There was no grass around the gazebo, just gravel. That may indicate the amount of use the gazebo recieved. That gazebo is now the cook shack in Herman Park.

The band played at Deadwood every year at the Days of `76. They marched from the rodeo grounds, up to the hospital, then back again. This march was a mile and half, on a usual hot August morning. According to Ree Riech and Irma Dungey that mile and a half felt more like ten miles. During the 60`s, the women from the Methodist Church always fed the band at the church after the parade.

Another place the band liked to go to was Sheridan, Wyoming. Sheridan Days, as they came to be known, were not usually attended by the younger members of the band. Because Sheridan Days were known for wild times. Still, some the band members families would make this into a family vacation of sorts, and travel with the band.

Most of the band members agree that Ekalaka was a great place to go because the people at Ekalaka treated them so well. The people of Ekalaka thought it was great to have the Cowboy Band come. The legend of going to Ekalaka on the wrong day is a favorite of band members. The band had been invited to play for them, so of course they did. The celebration was on a Saturday and Sunday. They were supposed to be in the parade on Sunday. Somehow somebody got the dates mixed up. On Saturday, the band arrived in town and went to the parades starting point on the edge of town. They waited out there for a long time and no one showed up. Finally they went back into town and asked around a little bit. Finally they were told that they were a day early for the parade. The band members decided that since they were there, they might as well play. So they stopped in the bars and played some there. Then they played at the nursing home and at several other places around town before returning home.

In more recent years the band has always played polka tunes around town. A few of the members get together and play music in the bars, street corners, and wherever a crowd would gather. In years past, this was not as common because of the number of kids participating in the band.

In later years the band did a lot of traveling, probably more than the previous generations of Cowboy Band members did. The reason was attributed to newer methods of transportation. When the band first started, not everyone had a car and it took longer to get places because of road conditions. Despite this many members who lived out of town made a commitment to get to town anyway. One of the first members of the band, Irma Dungey was allowed to borrow the family car, which was an early 30`s Model-A Ford, to go to band practice. She wasn`t allowed to stay long after practice or else she wouldn`t be able to use the car again.

The Hulett Rodeo, and Newell and Lead for the Labor Day festivities have also been part of the Cowboy Band`s tradition. They`ve played at the Butte-Lawrence County Fair since the 30`s. The band members also enjoyed going to the Buffalo Labor Day events because they usually had a carnival. They have marched in the Range Days activities in Rapid City, and played out at Devils Tower.

It was also during this time that the band changed direction. The city took over and started paying the band members. The pay was a couple of dollars for a practice and around five dollars for a concert, usually amounting to ten dollars on payday. They got paid more for going out of town, a flat fee regardless of whether you went to Spearfish or to Rapid City.

Many band members believe that paying them contributed to the downfall of the band in the early 70`s. They were no longer volunteers, they were now paid members and all the fun was taken out of playing in the band.

Many people feel that the band reunions are a good chance to see old friends and meet new ones. They get to spend time with people they don`t see too often anymore. There`s more than a 60 year span of age between some of the members and they feel that when you have something like music in common, age doesn`t matter. It`s an extra bond that you have with those people. They like to come back and see them every year. Its something they look forward to. Many of the band members plan their vacations around the 4th of July celebrations so they can be here with the band.