Concertina music returns to Blainbrook Jan. 28

Strap on your dancing shoes or just head over to Brook Hall for a listen Saturday, Jan. 28, when the Concertina Bowl returns to the venue.

Gary Brueggen and the Ridgeland Dutchmen will headline the 39th annual Concertina Bowl, at 12000 Highway 65 in Blaine, MN.

In it’s 39th year, the all-day affair supplies numerous polkas, waltzes, and other old time favorites for a crowd of hundreds.

The bowl, sponsored by the Blaine/Coon Rapids Knights of Columbus Council #5141, starts at noon and goes until 11 p.m.

Gary Brueggen and the Ridgeland Dutchmen return as featured performers, starting up at 6 p.m.

Brueggen has been playing the ol’ concertina since he was a child, sneaking up to the attic to play his grandfather’s instrument.

Brueggen and the band travel three hours from southern Wisconsin for the bowl. The event is always worth the trip, he said.

“It celebrates the concertina,” Brueggen said. “I get to see and hear other players of the instrument that I normally don’t get to see.”

Brueggen thinks that concertina music has lost its edge to the accordion, but sees it making a comeback with younger guys. Guys like Josh Eidsor, 19.

“He’s a true master of the instrument,” said Art Ohotto, organizer of the Concertina Bowl.

Eidsor and Jerry Pitzen will play in a new 45-minute special performance at 3 p.m.

In addition to concertina music all day long, there will also be a display where people can buy, sell, or trade instruments.

Bob Novak, builder of the Echo concertina, and Mike Smieja, in the restoration and repair business, will run the display.

Tickets to the event are $10 for adults; $5 for students 18 and under; and kids under 12 are admitted for free.

Door prizes are given out throughout the day with a $39 cash prize drawing at 1:30 p.m.

Food, snacks, and a cash bar are also available throughout the day.