The Kamloops Rube Band has travelled the world, becoming recognized everywhere from Hawaii, Japan, New Orleans and beyond as a group of fun-loving musicians who aren’t afraid to mix silly and serious.

It all started in the summer of 1949, when a group of teens — the youngest of which was 14-year-old Claude Richmond — decided to do something silly for a good reason.

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“[Gordon] ‘Ginger’ Clow thought it would be a great idea if we could get a band together to parade through the streets with a sign that says, ‘Come to the blood donor clinic,’” Richmond told KTW.

Ginger, as he was known, organized about a dozen of his high school friends and suggested they all don funny apparel, too.

“So we put on ridiculous costumes made of stuff we could find around the house,” Richmond said.

The teens’ musical gambit was a success for the Red Cross blood donor clinic because “people will follow a band, and bands attract people,” as Richmond put it.

The band continued to grow as a marching band, marching down the street, playing local parades and eventually some larger events, like the Calgary Stampede, until things changed in 1966.

“We were on our way back from Calgary in 1966, and myself and a couple others thought about how next year was the Canadian Centennial, with a big world’s fair in Montreal,” Richmond said.

The band decided its next big event would be Expo ‘67, but there was a problem — there was no marching allowed.

“That’s when the change came around,” Richmond said.

So the band spent the next year putting together a stage act, with “cymbals breaking all over the place, guns going off and water flying all around,” Richmond recalled. “We still did parades, but we also did stand-up shows from then on.”

The group’s Expo ‘67 trip was their first world’s fair, but there was a lot more to come, including Osaka, Japan, for Expo ‘70, Spokane, Wash., for Expo ‘72, New Orleans for Mardi Gras in 1974, Knoxville for the 1982 World’s Fair, Expo ‘86 in Vancouver and more, including a number of performances at regular events like the PNE and Calgary Stampede.

Another memorable performance for Richmond and the band was at Nijmegen in the Netherlands, where the band attended to play in a parade commemorating the country’s liberation in 1945, in which Canadian Forces played a key role.

“In Nijmegen, we could do no wrong. We did the parades in our red jackets — no funny costumes. We dressed up for legitimate parades,” Richmond said.

“The veterans were all lined up behind us. It was such an experience — you can’t believe it. People were rushing out to the veterans, hugging and kissing them. It was just unbelievable. Those are the kinds of parades you never forget.”

The serious occasion later became a fun one — but that was briefly unbeknownst to the Rube Band’s 5,000-strong Dutch audience at an amphitheatre later that same trip, where the band was set to play in the middle of a show that, up to that point, had mostly been chamber and classical music.

“We burst into the scene, booming with cymbal clashes, water in the air and rubber chickens flying everywhere. Well, it took the Dutch people about 10 minutes to realize, ‘Hey, this is a fun group,’” Richmond said, laughing.

“But for that first 10 minutes, there was just silence. They were dumbfounded.”

Richmond, 84, has made the best of his opportunities to make memories with the band, and he’s not the only one — many of the band’s members have played together for decades, some with more than 60 years of experience.

But as the band has played together, new recruits have done little to reduce the average age of the band.

“I think there’s three of us under 35, so I’m definitely one of the younger members,” said Jordan Amon, 33.

Amon joined the band after Jerome Lidster — then Amon’s Grade 9 teacher and now Rube Band bandmaster — encouraged him to play in the Santa Claus parade all those years ago.

“I think why I’ve stayed for 17 years is just that they’re so much fun. They laugh, they joke, they have excellent camaraderie and they’re welcoming — and their musicianship is so inspiring,” Amon said.

Bandmembers, including Amon and Richmond, know that in order for the Rube Band to continue, the band needs to attract new members.

“If you don’t recruit new members, it’s going to die,” Richmond said. “If you’ve got an instrument and it’s been in your closet for a few years, dig it out and come play with us.”

Amon agrees, and said the Rubes’ wisdom is something less experienced players can lean on.

“If you think there are just a bunch of clowns and some easy tunes from the 1940s, well it’s actually very difficult music. So if you want a challenge and to improve yourself, this is a great opportunity,” he said.

The Kamloops Rube Band will play its 70th anniversary show at Music in the Park at Riverside Park on Sunday, Aug. 18, at 7 p.m.