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Minnesota's oldest community band is a family affair

The Meire Grove Band has been performing for 132 years, longer than any other community band in Minnesota.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story originally aired in summer of 2015.

Credit: Ben Garvin / KARE
Grandpa, grandson, dad - Vern, Andrew and Paul Meyer are part of the five generation, 132 year history of the Meire Grove Band.

MEIRE GROVE, Minn. - The oldest community band in the state of Minnesota has been dealing with a branding issue - for 132 years.

The Meire Grove Band should really be spelling its name M-e-y-e-r Grove.

More on that in a moment.

But first, branding issue or not, five generations of the Meyer family haven't allowed a misspelling to stand in the way of their musical tradition.

Meyer Band Circa 1910.

"You can only play football for so long or baseball for so long, but you can play music until you die," says Andrew Meyer, a fifth generation band member.

Picking up on Andrew's end of life reference, his 80-year-old grandfather playfully quips "I'm planning." Vern Meyer – still quick with a joke - has been playing with the band for 67 years.

Andrews father Paul Meyer plays with the band too, which should come as no surprise.

Currently 23 members – nearly half the Meire Grove band – are related to Vern and the Meyers who came before him.

Members of the Meire Grove Band perform in St. Cloud on Thursday, July 23, 2015. The band, organized in 1883, goes back five generations.

Which brings us back to that branding issue.

Somehow the town that should have been called "Meyer Grove" ended up "Meire Grove."

Vern says the blame rests with a non-Meyer chosen by town founders Henry and Herman Meyer to ride to courthouse to register the town's name.

As the often repeated story goes, the well intentioned gentleman made some untimely stops along the way that may have clouded his spelling ability.

"He was thirsty once in a while," laughs Vern.

Right spelling or wrong, one doesn't have to be a Meyer to get into the Meire Grove Band. It doesn't take long, however, before one starts to feel like one.

Gary Zwack conducts the Meire Grove Band

The band's director Gary Zwack earned his entry by getting hitched to a Meyer. Asked if a Meyer gets extra credit for marrying a band director, he laughs, "I would like to think so."

Melissa Vorderbruggen – a Meyer in spirit only – says "We're a family, all of us. This is a band family."

Several times a summer the Meire Grove Band leaves its community of 179 people and attracts crowds bigger than Meire Grove.

132 years old and still making a name for themselves.

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