When the bands march down Main Street at 2 pm on Saturday, their music will sound especially poignant. They might be playing a swan song.

There is every chance that the annual Kinsmen Band Festival, a mainstay of Moose Jaw for the past 45 years, will not survive another year in its current form. The festival, a Victoria Day tradition for generations of Moose Avians, barely got off the ground this year. No one was willing to chair the organizing committee until Russ McKnight stepped up at the 11th hour.

While there are rumours that the band festival might continue in a different guise, perhaps in conjunction with another annual event, it seems the glory days of the band festival are fading as quickly as the last note of a musical performance.

Many people living in Moose Jaw enjoy rich memories of past festival performances; the seamless harmony resounding from a stage full of well-rehearsed musicians, the golden glitter of brass instruments, the orderly rows of uniformed pipers and drummers marching in unison down Main Street.

We’ll likely never see the festival hit the mammoth size of past years (I remember the “77 in ’77” campaign, which saw 77 bands march in the 1977 parade).

By comparison, last year’s parade of about a dozen bands seemed paltry, almost embarrassing. This year’s parade will, it is hoped, be about double that size.

The reason why the band festival seems destined to become a relic are reasons larger than Moose Jaw. Schools throughout the country are trimming their music programs as frills. And, community groups that used to support marching bands are supporting other endeavours instead.

When the bands start up at 2 pm Saturday to begin their march down Main Street, spectators will come out for many reasons. Some people will go because it’s a habit. Some people will bring their families to ensure their children witness at least one band festival parade. Some people will go out of respect for rendition; for them, Saturday’s parade will be a march into memory.