The concert will be held Thursday, Aug. 14, at Chang-Hu Park beginning at 6:30 p.m., and promises to continue the enjoyable Thursday evenings at the park with a program of favorite tunes from America’s great “Swing” era.

     Founded in 1985 under the leadership of Dick O’Dell, 23 Skidoo's goal was to preserve and promote the music from the “Roaring ‘20s” through the 1940s. The band will present a trip down memory lane with a repertoire that features popular Big Band favorites, sing-a-longs, novelty numbers and Dixie.

     Combining the ever-popular rhythms of the banjo and tuba, with trumpet, clarinet/saxophone and trombone joining in, the group creates the excitement and unique style as they swing the oldies with a Bourbon Street flavor.

     The group is popular throughout Western New York, Southern Ontario and Florida.

     The public is invited to enjoy this free concert and encouraged to bring a picnic basket or to purchase hot dogs and soft drinks that will be sold by the Gowanda Area Chamber of Commerce. Lawn chairs and bug spray will make the concert more comfortable, too.

     The Concert series is coordinated by the Gowanda Area Chamber of Commerce with funds provided by the villages of Gowanda and Perrysburg, the towns of Persia, Perrysburg, Collins and Dayton, a donation from the Gowanda Kiwanis Club and a grant from the Cattaraugus County Council for the Arts, through a Decentralization Grant from New York State.

     In case of rain, the concert will move into the First United Methodist Church on North Chapel Street.