Fred Hughes, who became the new director of the New Holland Band on Jan. 1, does not know exactly when his father joined the band, but he knows how it happened, and he remembers pulling the wagon that held the bass drum in parades when he was still in the single digits. "(Former New Holland Band director) Sam (Zimmerman) heard (that my father) was a great musician and recruited him," said Hughes, who referred to Zimmerman as a "great mentor."

By the time Hughes was 12 years old, he was playing tuba alongside his father, having joined Local 294 of the American Federation of Musicians. Hughes experience in the band prepared him for a future in music. "It was through Sam's foresight to start mentoring us young folks via getting Russ Sumpman (a local music teacher) in the band," recalled Hughes, who said Sumpman brought his students along with him. "We had the opportunity to sit beside our teachers and play in this great band playing great band literature," said Hughes, who added that the band would practice on Tuesday nights and play two concerts the following Sunday. "We would play different music at the second concert than we played at the first concert, and none of it was what we rehearsed on Tuesday night," he stated. "We learned to sight-read."

That experience helped Hughes to be assigned as a tuba player in the First Army Band at Fort George G. Meade in Maryland, after graduating from Hempfield High School. Hughes also played keyboard with the show band and big band of the First Army Band. In 1981, Hughes was sent to Korea, where he played with the Eighth Army Band in Seoul. He also played in jazz clubs there, recording six records before the age of 24. In 1985, following his stint in Seoul, he returned to Lancaster and worked with a jazz trio called Alternative, performing regularly at what was then the Treadway Resort Inn.

In 1989, Hughes joined the Army's touring jazz ensemble, called the Jazz Ambassadors, as a pianist. He toured the U.S. and the world. In 1996, he formed the Fred Hughes Trio, and the group played international festivals. He has served in a variety of other roles, including directing orchestras and presenting workshops and clinics. In 2019, he founded Jazz Alive, a nonprofit organization working to preserve jazz through a variety of concerts and educational activities. "We have been going into Oxford School District under the New Holland Band educational endowment," said Hughes of the nonprofit. "This will be the third year that we go in to work with beginning students."

The effort is part of Hughes' desire to introduce young people to specific types of music, something he also wants to see happen with the New Holland Band, as he steps into his new role. "For me that's the top goal - to expand our audience," he said. "There are different ways to do that one step at a time." Hughes' first appearance as director will be at the band's spring concert, which will be held Sunday, March 17, in the Good Shepherd Chapel at Lancaster Bible College, 901 Eden Road, Lancaster. Hughes also noted that this year, the band will give two concerts for the July Fourth holiday. The first is planned at The Barn at Paradise Station on Wednesday, July 3, where the band will accompany the singing group Perfect Harmony, and the second is the traditional concert in the New Holland Memorial Park on Thursday, July 4. The band will also hold its annual Christmas concert at DoubleTree Resort, 2400 Willow Street Pike, Lancaster. A new concert will be the "Art of the March," which will be held at Garden Spot Village, 433 S. Kinzer Ave., New Holland, on Saturday, April 13. "We will talk about why marches are unique to bands," said Hughes. "We will talk about how and why the march was created." Hughes added that practicing marches offers benefits to musical organizations. "When you play marches as a steady diet, because of the challenge, endurance, and technique, it makes the organization strong," he said.

To see the full schedule of New Holland Band concerts, readers may visit http://www.newhollandband.org. More information about Hughes may be found at https://fredhughes.com.