The Holly Springs Community Band     

Contributed by Nancy Knight

The Holly Springs Community Band is proud to be celebrating 20 years of making music in its hometown of Holly Springs, North Carolina. The band was formally established in 2006 by local amateurs seeking an outlet to participate in and share their favorite pastime for making music. An exploratory newspaper notice inspired a small but eager cadre of lapsed musicians to dust off their horns and put their ensemble skills to work. Also responding to the ad was the band’s founding director, David Reitmeyer, who is currently director of Holly Springs’s much-loved Route 55 Jazz Band.

The fledgling group held its earliest rehearsals at the Hunt Center. The opening of the Holly Springs Cultural Center in late 2006 gave the all-volunteer musicians a rehearsal and performance home, and a supportive partner in the band’s growth and development. In the early years, the Cultural Center concerts were free, and audience members were asked to bring canned goods for the Holly Springs Food Cupboard. The band and its audience were starting to grow, as Holly Springs and Southwestern Wake County populations burgeoned.

A new director, Felicia Cox, led the band until the summer of 2009, when Bonnie Borchert took over the baton. The group soon started performing at Town events such as HollyFest and the Christmas Tree Lighting, and gave concerts in the Womble Park band shell as a lead-in to the Independence Day fireworks shows. Other concert venues included the Nativity Festival in Apex, the Holly Springs Farmers Market, and Kraft YMCA’s Veterans’ Day program. More recently, the band has represented the Town of Holly Springs at the Triangle Community Band Festival, performed pre-game shows and the National Anthem for the Holly Springs Salamanders baseball team, and participated in the Raleigh Parks and Rec Summer Concert Series. In 2015, Mark Gloden became the band’s new director. The relationship with the Cultural Center was formalized, ticket prices were established, and the band was provided with on-site storage space for their growing inventory of percussion equipment. Thanks to a generous gift from Four Oaks Bank, the band retired the worn-out marching band drum it had been using and bought a new concert bass drum. This acquisition was soon followed by a trio of portable timpani, and most recently, a concert xylophone. These instruments allowed a maturity of sound and a breadth of repertoire that was not possible before.

Over the years, the Holly Springs Community Band has enjoyed performing a wide variety of classical, pop, show tunes, marches, and big-band arrangements. They have featured soloists performing on trumpet, clarinet, cello, oboe, and even an operatic vocalist. Themes such as Red Carpet Night, European Vacation, Children’s Concert, and Dark and Stormy Night have helped attract sellout audiences.

The success and longevity of the Holly Springs Community Band would not have been possible without strong leadership and willing volunteers from within the musicians’ ranks. Tasks such as managing equipment, securing funding, publicizing performances, maintaining the music library and band website, coordinating personnel, liaising with performance venues, and assisting the director are all performed by elected officers and other volunteer members who are passionate about their hometown band.

A new chapter is starting for the band with the appointment of Jerry Markoch as director in August 2026. With tremendous pride in its history, the Holly Springs Community Band is honored to represent the Town of Holly Springs and looks forward to serving this community for years to come.