Most of Corte Madera's December takes place at its two shopping centers. Santa has a schedule at The Village, the Giant Turkey collects cans at Town Center, and there is a run of brand events built around holiday shopping. On the evening of Thursday, Dec. 17, the season's most local event happens somewhere else. The Corte Madera Town Band plays its free annual holiday concert at the Community Center on Tamalpais Drive. Nobody on stage is paid except the conductor, and this year he is new.
The band formed in April 1996, so it turned 30 this year. Its new conductor is Alan K. Parks, a Napa bandleader who took over in late August 2026. The Dec. 17 concert will be his first holiday program with the group.
The free one is on Tamalpais Drive
According to the Patch event listing posted Nov. 3, the details are:
- When: Thursday, Dec. 17, 2026, at 7 p.m.
- Where: Corte Madera Community Center, 498 Tamalpais Drive
- Cost: Free admission, with refreshments served
- Who: The 40-piece Corte Madera Town Band, led by new conductor Alan Parks
Band president Larry Hetrick described the program in that Patch listing. "December is such a wonderful month for celebrating music," he said. "We will performing a number of Christmas melodies, a Hanukkah selection, traditional favorites, and much more. It will be an hour of great, light entertainment."
Thirty years from a 17-player first rehearsal
Gwyn Lister and several members of the Corte Madera Community Foundation started the band in April 1996, according to the band's history page. Under Anthony Adessa, the first practice brought together 17 musicians between the ages of 11 and 60-plus. The instruments included a bongo drum, two snare drums, several horns and two accordions. The band says several of those original musicians still play.
Its first performance was the Larkspur-Corte Madera July 4th Parade in 1996, and it has marched in every one of those parades since. Its second performance was at the 1996 Oktoberfest. The yearly calendar stays close to home, at seven or eight performances a year:
- The Fourth of July Parade
- Opening and closing the Summer Concert Series at Corte Madera Town Center
- The Corte Madera Oktoberfest
- The Summer Music Concert Series at the Corte Madera Piccolo Pavilion
- The Christmas season, when the weather allows
The band has also played in Novato, Petaluma, Mill Valley, San Rafael and San Francisco, including several appearances at the Golden Gate Park Band Festival. The Marin Community Foundation gave it a Neighbor Achievement Award in 1997, a year after its first rehearsal.
The band's rehearsal space has changed along with the town. Practices started in an empty store in the Corte Madera Center and later moved to the Town Council Chamber. Today the band rehearses at Redwood High School.
The conductor's baton has also changed hands many times. The band's own list runs from Anthony Adessa to Rita Zigas, Benedetta Dalbesio, Anthony Gallardo, Mark Peabody, Daniel Thompson, Mark Nemoyton and Nick Burdick. Parks now follows them.
A Napa bandleader who wants the audience humming
Parks lives in Napa. The band describes him as a fifth-generation Californian and a Napa native. He began conducting in high school and returned to it in 2013 when he joined Napa High School. He is now the assistant director of instrumental music there, working with the marching band, concert band, string orchestra and jazz band. According to the band's introduction of Parks, the Napa High band director often calls him "Doctor" Parks.
He plays tuba, double bass and electric bass. His performing résumé includes The Lucky So and So's, the Bourbon Street Brass Band, the Hunka Hunka Hula Revue, the Big Easy Big Band, the Roadkill Big Band and The Awesome Orchestra Collective. In 2024 he started the Napa Hometown Community Band. A volunteer town band in Corte Madera is a close fit for someone who started one in his own hometown two years ago.
The band's introduction also describes his programming approach. He plans to favor popular music that nearly everyone recognizes, such as arrangements of radio hits old and new, classical pieces familiar from popular culture, and standards. Now and then he will add something unfamiliar to stretch the audience's ear. His main rule is that "music should be entertainment," and that a show should leave people "smiling and humming a tune they just heard".
This shapes what to expect on Dec. 17. Hetrick's "hour of great, light entertainment" and Parks's preference for tunes people know point in the same direction. Hetrick's plan for Christmas melodies, a Hanukkah selection and traditional favorites fits the brief of a conductor who wants the room to recognize what it hears.
The players pay to be there
The band's funding model sets its holiday concert apart from everything else on the town's December calendar. The conductor is the one paid position. He buys the music with the members' approval and leads every rehearsal and performance. The roughly 40 members are volunteers, and each pays $30 a year in dues toward music, uniforms and practice time.
Membership is open to everyone, and players do not need to live in Corte Madera. The Patch listing says the band is "actively recruiting new members while working hard to raise the group's visibility". Rehearsals are every Thursday night from 7 to 9 p.m. at Redwood High. The holiday concert falls on a Thursday too, so on Dec. 17 the band will perform in the slot it normally uses to practice.
Beyond dues, the band's support has come from local residents, the Corte Madera Community Foundation, the Town of Corte Madera, the Lions Club and Corte Madera Town Center. The Patch listing credits the Town, the Community Foundation and the Corte Madera Lions for this year's concert, and says the band calls itself "Marin's Own". Donations go through the Corte Madera Community Foundation's band account at P.O. Box 7109, Corte Madera, CA 94976.
The rest of December runs through the shopping centers
The concert stands out because the town's other holiday traditions are mostly hosted by its two retail centers, and several of them raise donations for local causes.
| What | Where | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| 34th annual Giant Turkey food drive for the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank | Town Center Corte Madera, near Arhaus | Nov. 5 to Jan. 1 |
| Santa visits, free, with photos for purchase | The Village at Corte Madera, east mall entrance next to Verizon | Begins Nov. 20 |
| Pet Nights with Santa | The Village, same spot | Mondays Nov. 23, Nov. 30 and Dec. 7, 4 to 7 p.m. |
| Sensory Santa Cares | The Village | Dec. 6, 9 to 10:30 a.m. |
| St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin warm-clothing drive | The Village | Nov. 20 to Dec. 24 |
| Corte Madera Chamber Holiday Mixer | Corte Madera Inn, 56 Madera Blvd. | Dec. 3, 5 to 7 p.m. |
| Corte Madera Town Band Holiday Concert | Community Center, 498 Tamalpais Drive | Dec. 17, 7 p.m. |
Town Center's events page asks for nonperishable donations at the turkey, and the drive is in its 34th year. Santa's full hours are on The Village's Santa page, which lists Thanksgiving, Nov. 26, as closed. The Chamber asks guests to RSVP for its mixer at [email protected] or 415-924-0441.
Town Center also appears in the band's own story. It is listed among the band's supporters, and the band opens and closes its summer concert series every year. Much of December happens at the shopping centers, and this one evening on Tamalpais Drive comes from 40 neighbors with instruments, a $30 membership and a conductor who wants them to play songs the audience already knows.
Holly Welch supports local nonprofits and community programs as part of her work in Marin, and a volunteer band that turned 30 this year is a good example of what that support looks like in the Twin Cities. If you'd like to talk about Corte Madera, from the calendar on Tamalpais Drive to the streets around it, Holly Welch is glad to help. Let's Connect.