St. Cloud, Meire Grove Bands Visiting Spalt, Germany

SPALT, GERMANY (WJON News) -- The St.Cloud Municipal Band and Meire Grove Band’s joint trip to Germany is in full swing.

The journey got off to a bumping start on Thursday and Friday with a turbulent filled flight from MSP to Detroit, a 30-plus minute delay from Detroit to Frankfurt, Germany, some lost luggage and another hour-plus delay for the bus ride from Frankfurt to Spalt.

Once at Spalt, the band checked into their three different hotels and then attended a welcome reception from the city. Some members stayed after the reception to watch the German National soccer team’s game against Scotland, Germany won 5-1.

Saturday was a fun day for the group with a walking tour of Spalt and a tour of the city-owned brewery. After the tours, the band had a few hours on their own for lunch and to explore Spalt. At 5:30 the group met up with Spalt Stadkapelle, Spalt’s city band for rehearsal for that night’s concert. The concert took place in St. Emmeram’s Church, which is over 800 years old. People filled the church to watch the joint concert, with the bands playing a few pieces together as one large group at the end.

After the show, there was a exchange of gifts between the directors and then a short reception before calling it a day.