The start of the summer means the start of parade and festival season, and one band seen at events throughout Monroe County will be returning for its 40th year, albeit under a new name.

Known for years as the Bud Light Brigade, the group was recently rebranded as the Busch Light Brigade – though members promise to bring the same music and energy to local festivities they have for decades even with a new name on their uniforms.

Longtime brigade member and recently retired Monroe County Commissioner Dennis Knobloch spoke about the history of the group as well as the reason for the change in title.

Alongside Bill Reheis, Knobloch actually created the group. He recalled serving as a member of the Valmeyer Jaycees in 1985, the group organizing the village’s annual July 4 parade.

The Jaycees, as Knobloch described, always had trouble finding bands to perform for the event as high schools tended to shut down their music programs over the summer and other groups often weren’t available to travel outside their normal venues.

Knobloch spoke with Reheis about the lack of a band for that year’s parade, and the two came to the conclusion that they could put together a group comprised simply of local musicians.

“He and I sat down one day and talked about it, and we said ‘You’ve got so many people that, through the years, have played music and just have not kept it up,’ but he said ‘I think if we make some calls, we can come up with enough people just to put a rag-tag group together, just so we’ve got some music for the parade,’” Knobloch said.

They made plenty of calls to get the group together, with Reheis reaching out to folks in the Waterloo Municipal Band which had previously done marching performances and also provided music for the group Knobloch and Reheis were putting together.

This original group was comprised of 13 individuals including Knobloch, Reheis, Russ Wolf, Glen Lutz, Jule Boyer, Charlie Janson, Keith Mechler, Dennis Rippelmeyer, Jeff Vogt, Bill Schmidt, Jeff Berry, Jim Dillenberger and Doug Berry.

They donned black pants, white shirts and Styrofoam hats for the parade, debuting as the Basic Generic Band.

After the parade, Knobloch recalled running into John Koerber of Koerber Distributing. He commended the band’s performance and, when Knobloch asked him, said he was considering sponsoring them going forward.

Around this time was right when Bud Light was starting as a popular beer brand, and Koerber suggested this could be an ideal time for an advertising opportunity.

Thus came the band’s name.

“We got together a few times and talked about the possibility of a name, and after a few Bud Lights, somewhere the name Bud Light Brigade came up, and we thought ‘Hey, that sounds great. Let’s go with it,’” Knobloch said.

He further recalled the handful of jobs the band had through the rest of 1985 – one of them being a performance at a chili cook-off at the old German restaurant Eberhard’s in Columbia as well as the Millstadt Homecoming.

Uniforms were developed over the winter that year, and the band truly made its debut as the Bud Light Brigade the following spring.

In the years that followed, the band had countless performances in the area, also doing a lot of jobs for charitable causes where they’ve donated the performance time.

Knobloch said the band has probably raised about a quarter of a million dollars over the years for various causes.

This charity, as Knobloch described, has always been a core part of the brigade.

“None of the people in the group are paid anything,” Knobloch said. “We volunteer our time and materials and our talents.”

Wolf, one of the previously mentioned original members, also spoke about his time in the group, similarly noting the emphasis on charity as the group donates the money received at the end of each season.

“It’s sort of a win-win for everyone,” Wolf said. “The distributor gets the advertisement, people enjoy listening to us and, as players, we enjoy playing, socializing, that type of thing. And at the end of the season, we donate all the money that we made back to Monroe County.”

On the topic of distributors, Knobloch noted how the band has always received strong sponsorship throughout its existence thanks to the owners, from Koerber Distributing to Illinois Distributing and, more recently, Grey Eagle Distributing.

Along with the ideals of charity and, of course, providing musical entertainment, Knobloch noted that a key goal of the brigade was to provide anyone with a way for them to fulfill their musical passions.

Part of this goal has manifested in the band’s annual donations to local schools’ music programs.

“We have always said that we felt one of the things that was most important was making sure that the younger generation knows that the things they learned aren’t always lost,” Knobloch said. “If you are talented in music, or even if you’re not all that talented but if you enjoy doing it and if you want to keep doing that the rest of your life, there are places you can do that.”

The band has certainly succeeded in this area as numerous musicians have joined up over the years.

Wolf said the group currently consists of around 70 members, with about 30 or more performing from show to show.

Knobloch voiced his pride that, even with these 30-member performances, the band is often able to bring a level of energy rivalling that of high school bands boasting more than 100 performers.

“It seems like every year we add on, especially the younger folks,” Knobloch said. “We bring in some high school kids, we bring in some college kids, and it keeps the spirit and the soul of the group alive.”

Regarding the recent name change to the Busch Light Brigade, both Knobloch and Wolf explained the change had been discussed for several years.

Wolf said the change came about this past fall as the distributor indicated there was more potential advertising support with the Busch branding compared to Bud, and the rebranding of the band’s equipment has since taken place over the winter.

“It was a process. It didn’t happen overnight,” Wolf said. “We had a lot to do on our trailer, and it was a good time to update everything. We had to get the trailer redone, a lot of instruments had the logo on them. They all had to change. The big thing was the uniforms.”

Knobloch, who has stepped away from the band recently due to personal illness, expressed his thanks to Wolf and Glen Lutz for their leadership of the band through the change.

When it comes to their time in the band, Wolf spoke about his general enjoyment being able to perform regularly while also contributing to good causes.

“You have fun playing, there’s satisfaction there in making people happy, not only on the parade route but when we do concerts,” Wolf said. “Knowing that all the money we make, we donate.”

Knobloch was distinctly passionate as he spoke about his many years with the brigade he helped get rolling, noting how he feels about their success in that time.

“Proud as hell,” Knobloch said. “When we first started, the mentality was, in talking with other local people, when you’ve got an organization there, you’re going to be lucky if you can keep it going five years. I’m not real sure that we didn’t have that same mentality, that it was not going to be easy to keep a group like that going. But what we found was that the members enjoyed getting together for two reasons. It was a way for them to showcase their talents and abilities, and they love the hell out of playing music, which we all do.”

Knobloch expressed his hopes to return to the group as soon as he can.

He voiced thanks to those involved with the Waterloo Municipal Band for their support, including Matt Fischer, Wolf and Lutz.

Knobloch further voiced his love of the brigade, from the reputation developed over the years to all the music and positivity shared in that time.

“I love the group,” Knobloch said. “I love every hour I’ve spent participating with the group. We’re like a big family. We share in our things that go well. We share in our things that don’t go well. I will never regret any of the time that I have spent working for or with the brigade. And I don’t see it changing with just the slight name change that we’re going through now.”

The Busch Light Brigade performs at Saturday’s Maeystown Homecoming and again during Tuesday’s Porta Westfalica Festival in downtown Waterloo.