After a cancelled 2020 season the Washington Municipal Band is back and more ferocious than ever this year with their show theme titled “Fantastical Beasts.”

Band Director Tom McNamar says the last two years gave him a lot of time to plan out this summer’s performances, with a theme that features instruments that don’t usually receive the spotlight, such as a bass saxophone, which has a bell so large McNamar says you could probably fit a basketball in it. He describes some of the other featured beasts, “We’re going to bring out the heavy metal boys, our tuba section, they’re going to be featured some. We’ve got some trombones, we’ve got a contra bass trombone, this thing is like 24 feet long all turned up in the shape of a trombone. I’ve got a friend of mine, Jerry Runyan, who’s going to bring his contra bass trombone. And then Dr. Paul Towner he’s going to bring his soprano trombone, it’s like a trumpet size in the shape of a trombone. So we’re going to have the large of the large, we’re going to have the small of the small, we’re going to have all kinds of ‘fantastical beasts’ arrive at the concerts this year.”

The Washington Municipal Band performs Thursday nights at 8 p.m. at Washington’s Central Park following the weekly farmers market from 5-7:30 p.m. and Thursday Night Live musical performances from 6-7 p.m.