Fifty members and their guests celebrated the 40th Anniversary year with a great party on December 10th at Two Hearts Banquet Center. The entertainment was excellent.

First up was a reunion band of banjo players from the 1960s. These guys played at “Your Father’s Moustache” banjo parlor on Boyle avenue in Gaslight Square. Virgil Dickinson, Al Lehmann, Don Scherrer, Bob Grimm and Larry Dodd brought back memories of those banjo days long gone. Don Franz backed them up with his usual great tuba sound.

“The Last Generation” with Jim Casserly, Larry Dodd, Don Kincaid and Bill Gnuse brought us some songs not usually associated with banjos and did a great job.

Ginny Luetje and Gary Mades followed them with some “red hot mama” songs. Don Scherrer and Gary Mades followed next with some typical banjo tunes and the last act was the “Mades Family” with Les Mades, Doug Mades and Gary Mades. Les turned 90 this year and still plays a mean fiddle.

We all jumped in and finished a wonderful evening with some jammin’ and even played a few Christmas songs. Below are some photos from the evening.