Leader Photo by Lee Pulaski Autumn Pate, 2, tries her hand at the drums Monday during a performance of U B the Band. The program provides drums and guitars for children and even adults to perform like they were in a real band.
The stage at the Shawano County Fair’s junior fair building started out as a platform for animals, but by the time the weekend rolled around, it was taken over by party animals.
U B the Band gave dozens of local children the opportunity to take the stage to be lead singers, guitarists and drummers to a number of popular songs. Kip Schwanke, who created the program, does 350 shows annually in Wisconsin at events such as Summerfest and venues such as the Milwaukee Zoo.
This is the first year U B the Band has performed at the county fair, and Schwanke said he enjoyed the three days he spent with the kids.
“With the rain and the heat, it’s always questionable the participation, but it’s been just awesome. This is a great venue,” Schwanke said.
Schwanke eagerly put the children at ease, gently showing them how to use the instruments and explaining to them the rules about how they’re handled. The children seemed eager to play the drums more often than the guitars.
“This is hands on,” Schwanke said. “A ride is fun, and animals are fun, but this is a mix of technology, which is new, and old-hat stuff like guitars and drums. The kids like to drum. It seems like I can’t put enough drums on the stage.”
Schwanke started U B the Band for kids 10 years ago as a way to encourage musical creativity among children. He noted that children today are eager to get on the state and perform, a stark contrast to years ago before modern media put bands and other performance artists on television channels and the Internet.
“We just add more gear and more equipment,” Schwanke said. “We’ve got 13 drum sets in inventory for toddlers and full and almost 35 tricked-out, colorful guitars.”
The introduction of U B the Band is a continuation of the fair board’s desire to include more children’s entertainment, according to Brad Luepke, the fair’s marketing and promotions director. The board brought a magician to Shawano last year, and after seeing how popular that event was, decided to continue to utilize the junior fair building for more children’s activities.
“We wanted to keep a fresh act on that stage every year,” Luepke said. “We saw him at a fair convention in Wisconsin Dells in January.”
Because the Shawano County Fair is family based, the fair board felt U B the Band would be perfect for its ideology.
“It’s a good interactive show where the kids can get involved, and parents were really taking pictures,” Luepke said. “I was over there for one of the shows, and the kids were having a blast.”