Jefferson’s free summer concerts are coming back

The Jefferson Township Community Concert Band and Jazz Band will open its summer series on Friday, June 25, with a repertoire of popular favorites, including the classics, Broadway musicals, standard marches, and patriotic salutes performed by talented local musicians under the direction of Peter Tummillo Jr.

Also performing will be the energizing jazz band ensemble also directed by Tummillo.

This concert will be dedicated to the late Janet Breckenridge, one of the original members of the Jefferson Arts Committee when it was formed in 1987. She was an integral part of the community bands since their inception, playing piano, keyboard, French horn, and tuba, and she was involved in coordinating the Jazz Band’s annual Big Band Bash.

She is also remembered for her involvement with the Jefferson Arts Committee’s other performing arts groups — the Jefferson Township Community Chorus and the Jefferson Community Players. She is probably most remembered in the community as an instrumental and choral music teacher at White Rock Elementary School for more than 35 years, the accompanist and interim director of the Picatinny Chorus, and the organist and music director at the Oak Ridge Presbyterian Church.

The Victorian gazebo is located at the Jefferson Township Municipal Complex, 1033 Weldon Road, Lake Hopatcong (use Oak Ridge, NJ, in your GPS). All concerts begin at 7 p.m. and are two hours long usually with a short intermission.

Attendees are asked to bring a blanket or chair. Non-alcoholic beverages, picnic dinners, and snacks are permitted (take your trash home at the end of the evening).

Plans are being made to reserve an indoor location in case of inclement weather. For updates call 201-230-8879, visit the Jefferson Arts Committee on Facebook, or visit jeffersontownship.net.