Area towns included in ‘Lest We Forget:’ a book on bandstand history

BREWER – The history of bands and bandstands in Brewer, Exeter, Old Town, Bradley, Winterport and Hampden are included in “Lest We Forget: Band Stands of Maine, An Illustrated History,” a recently published book by Barbara Fox of Bar Harbor.

More than 180 bandstands in 131 Maine towns – from the Civil War era to the 1930s – are the subject of the book, which includes 200 vintage photos.

The book talks about how gatherings around liberty poles evolved into bandstands. The author also discusses different types of bandstand architecture, including Queen Anne, Gothic and Shingle styles, and what it cost to build a bandstand.

Fox traveled in a 1928 Studebaker Dictator restored by her father to see bandstands and to gather their history.