Music at Debate Square kicks off summer series
Jane Lethlean
Special to the Journal-Standard
FREEPORT After spending the last 16 months not playing in front of a live audience, Bill Petersen directed the Highland Big Band in front of a park filled with people Thursday night in downtown Freeport.
More than 120 people gathered for the first in a series of music events for Music at Debate Square. Some sat in lawn chairs. Some ate ice cream from nearby Union Dairy.
“We got the band together with five people, and as more got vaccinated, the number grew to 15, Petersen said. It has been more then a year since we played, and I spent much of it listening to music in solitude. So I selected music that reflected a year of solitude building up to jazz to celebrate being back into the community.”