On the move again
To the
FAIR School
Crystal
3915 Adair Ave. N.
Crystal, MN. 55422
The
Robbinsdale City Band is on the move again – to FAIR School Crystal! Since its
inception as an adult concert band in 1969, the concert band (and the marching
band) have moved eight times. Starting
out on the third floor of the old Robbinsdale Fire department, the band rehearsed
and marched up and down local streets near the Hubbard Avenue building for
decades. When the old building was
converted to a transit station, we began our nomadic life with a move to the
old Robbinsdale Senior High School where we had ample storage space and a nice
rehearsal space. Parking was a little
distant, but we didn’t have to climb thee flights of stairs!
In 2001,
to make room for a growing school population we moved to what we hoped would be
a space of our own at the Robbinsdale Area Community Education Center (the old
Robbinsdale Junior High School) on Regent and 42nd avenues. We inherited the band room without any need
to share our space. We cleaned, painted,
constructed shelving and decorated – a home of our own! It was a great time until the school was sold
for development of multi-unit housing.
In the
fall of 2004 we said goodbye to our own band room and moved temporarily to the
Vocal Room at Hosterman Junior High in New Hope. We didn’t have much space so much of our
lesser used equipment and uniforms went to storage. The vocal room was a little cramped for the
concert band, but we had a home and parking was just out the door.
In 2005 we
moved back to our previous space in the band room at the "old"
Robbinsdale High School. However, we
shared our space with the Spanish Emersion School and had to store our
equipment downstairs at the far end of the building. Still, it was nice having sufficient
rehearsal space and a big stage for some of our special concerts.
2009 took
us at Sandburg Middle School at 2400 Sandburg Lane, in Golden Valley. Not far from Byerlys
in Golden Valley and just north of Honeywell off Douglas Drive., but no longer
inside the City of Robbinsdale. The band room included an immediately adjacent
storage area, although it was a couple of steps down from the main doors. We did not share the space with anyone,
although we did not create any new decorating.
Parking was across the street from the front entrance (west side) and
walk almost the entire width of the school from the front door to the band
room, which is down several steps. That time we had professional movers
relocate our equipment, shelving and music files. The City of Robbinsdale picked up the
tab. Thanks!
In 2017 we
moved to the City Council Chambers at Robbinsdale City Hall, 4100 Lakeview
Avenue North, Robbinsdale, MN 55422. We
continued to work on a more permanent home in or around Robbinsdale. We rehearsed in the council chambers
working around the posts and unusually shaped space with limited storage space
in a nearby closet. There was ample parking immediately adjacent to the north
entrance as well all around the building. We continued to store our off-season
equipment and our music library in the storage room (room 44) in the basement
at the south end of the old Robbinsdale High School - now Robbinsdale Middle School (RMS) at 3730
Toledo Ave. N.
2023
brought a few changes – We relocated to FAIR School Crystal at 3915 Adair Ave
N. where we rent space from the Community Education department of Robbinsdale
Area Schools. We rehearse on the stage
in the school auditorium and can store our rehearsal equipment backstage. The backstage area has easy access to the
outside so we can load/un-load our equipment for concerts. We also moved all long-term storage (well, we
finally discarded the marching band uniforms) to the Robbinsdale History Museum
basement.
The new rehearsal space at FAIR
School Crystal
The
storage area….
The
basement of the historic Robbinsdale Library building,
below
the Robbinsdale History Museum.
