Volunteer musicians will be blowing their horns along Market and 2nd Streets.
Frederick, Md (KM) Echo Taps is taking place in Frederick on Veterans Day, Tuesday, November 11th.
Fred Schumacher works to put on the program, and he says musicians with brass instruments line up along Market Street from Mount Olivet Cemetery down to 2nd Street. And if all goes well, Schumacher says there will be a bugler inside the bell tower at the Cavalry United Methodist Church. “At we start playing at approximately 10:30, passing ‘Taps’ down the line so that the bugler in the belfry plays ‘Taps; at 10:59 for the ceremony to begin at Memorial Park at 11 O-Clock,” he says.
The ceremony at Memorial Park honors local military veterans.
Schumacher says he got the idea for echo taps several years ago. “23 years ago, I read that a group in New York state did an echo taps event 22 miles connecting two Veteran Administration hospitals. And i though I think we can do this in Frederick a mile and quarter from Mount Olivet to Memorial Park,” he says.
When it began, Schumacher says there only a handful of volunteer musicians taking part. “But over the years, the membership has grown. And now have musicians stationed 50 to 75 yards down Market Street,” he says.
Anyone who wants to volunteer and plays a brass instrument needs to show up at Mount Olivet Cemetery at 10:00 AM on Tuesday, November 11th. “We have everything from a regulation G Key bugle up to Sousaphones, French horns. I play a marching baritone. There’s four other individuals who play brass baritone. As long it’s a brass instrument, we’ll have a place for you,” says Schumacher.
The Echo Taps is expected to begin at 10:30 AM, and continue until 11:00 AM when the ceremony honoring veterans begins.
By Kevin McManus