The San Lorenzo Valley Community Band has been enriching lives through music in Santa Cruz County since 1994. Founded by Teresa Roffe, Patty Struve, and a small core of dedicated musicians, the band was established with a crucial mission: to ensure music education remained available in San Lorenzo Valley public schools. In addition to being co-founder, Patty was the first conductor.

In the early 1990s, elementary music instruction was being cut from local schools, with enrollment in the high school band program already showing concerning declines. The band set out to reverse this trend by performing at schools, back-to-school nights, and open houses—showcasing that music was both enjoyable and vital to every student's education.

When the junior high school band program was canceled, the Community Band took direct action, launching a free lesson program for elementary students in grades 4-6. Under the mentorship of the late Jon Christian–who served as the band's second conductor as well as the conductor for the high school band–our members taught young students in small weekly instrument groups. These grassroots efforts paid off when the junior high school band program was eventually reinstated, with many students from our program joining the new school band.

The band's advocacy, combined with efforts from school district personnel and community members, eventually helped secure grant funding from the Packard Foundation to reinstate music instruction at the elementary level.

The band's third conductor, Dan Lingenfelter, continued the tradition of the high school conductor also leading the community band. Dan was the conductor until 2019. Our current conductor, Nicki Kerns, has been with the band since 2019.

Since 2000, the band has collected over $14,000 in cash donations and purchased more than $7,000 in band music, all of which has been donated to the San Lorenzo Valley Schools' band library.

Like many performing arts organizations, the band took a hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic. We have since returned to regular rehearsals and performances, continuing our tradition of community music-making under the direction of Nicki Kerns.

The San Lorenzo Valley Community Band continues to operate with three core objectives:

Today, all donations received at our concerts directly support the San Lorenzo Valley Middle School and High School band programs.