Webmaster Note:

Part of the history of The Original Trilby String band and all the String Bands came from Jack Towers. A portion of this history comes from Dr. Welch's book Oh Dem Golden Slippers and from past and present Members of the various bands noted. The Birth of the Original Trilby String Band & All The String Bands were in the fall of 1898. I was employed in one of the leading department stores in Philadelphia. Just as with the young men of today, we would meet at noon hour and discuss different topics. One day the subject of music was mentioned a chap by the named if John Wygand said that he played the banjo. With three others would play against any of four string Instruments players at anytime. It just so happened that I played the flute with the three others who played the banjo mandolin. And guitar His challenge was accepted and we arranged to have a contest to see who were the better players .We met the following week and after tuning up. I started to play a number that the three boys whom I had with me were familiar with. The other four instead of playing their number, immediately started to play with us. That was the start and the end of the contest. We became so interested that we played the rest of the evening together and arranged to meet every week. From time to time, new boys came to rehearsal and before the fallowing New Year s Day. We had about 30 Piece, All string accepts the flute. After two years, we were asked by Bart Mc Hugh, Who was then an entertainment promoter and who was interested in mummers Parade, to go into the parade as a novelty. We agreed. Then came the problem of the costume. We select a black face minstrel outfit, The entire cost was no as expensive as one String band captain s suit of today. After three years, another string band was formed the Oakley. From time to time others followed. The competition was of such a friendly nature that yet the string instruments predominated as of today. This is a brief outline of how the string bands came into being. I do not want to take all the credit to myself. But being the only surviving member of the organizers, I wish to share it with my departed friends. John Wygand, William Siebert, and Dr. Louis Samuel's, whose memory I cherish .The first String band was named the Trilby after the heroine of George Du Maurier s Novel of that name. Which was quite popular at the time. There were no provisions for prizes for the string bands in that early parade however, the judges awarded a consolation prize of 25.00 to the Trilby to encourage its future Participation., The Trilby String band marched in the parade until 1921. And won many prizes. In 1935 it was reorganized by Dave Nelson and has been active since that time. Today Trilby String band is a combination of the Trilby, Crean, Burke, Palmyra and South Jersey String bands .In the 1990 Mummers parade Palmyra/South Jersey string band strutted to a 2nd place finish with a Theme of Palmyra South Jersey Goes