By Ed Shannon, staff writer

Blue Banners and old-time music are synonymous, and this fact quickly became very apparent right at noon on Wednesday for the large audience at the Entertainment Square portion of the Freeborn County Fair.

The band started and ended their appearances on Wednesday with their theme song,

the famous melody from the New Ulm area known as the &8220;Mariechen Waltz.&8221; In between were plenty of waltzes and polkas, plus country-western and what folks like to call &8220;new time.&8221;

Two numbers which really pleased the audience were &8220;Cab Driver&8221; with the vocal by drummer Lowell Thompson and &8220;Gene&8217;s Boogie&8221; with solos by accordionist Eugene Salisbury and other band members.

This band has three vocalists: Don Johnson, Thompson and Ben Stuart.

For over five generations this seven-member band with strong emphasis on the brassy sound has specialized in playing the ethnic melodies brought to this nation by the immigrants from Bohemia, Germany and Scandinavia.

This band was organized by Don E. Johnson, then of Alden,

and three friends in 1954. The original name was TV Hep Cats, a rather odd name for a group which played old time music. In 1956 the name was changed to Blue Banners, based on a new guitar Johnson acquired which had the brand name of Banner Blue.

Johnson, who worked at the Wilson & Co. plant in Albert Lea from 1954 until his retirement in 1990, and other members of the band combined full time employment

with part time musical activities. As a result the Blue Banners played mostly on weekends at area ballrooms, clubs and dance pavilions within a 150-mile radius.

Through the years this band has recorded several albums, plus a CD in 2001. They have been featured on many radio programs and played several times on the

&8220;Bandwagon&8221; program at KEYC-TV in Mankato.

At the present time the Blue Banners are playing several times a month. During the summer they are featured several times in the Edgewater Park Bandshell as a part of the summer concert series.