One last Music Monday
Steve Braun, lead vocalist and acoustic guitarist of Sit Down Francis, rocks an Escanaba t-shirt while rocking an Escanaba stage. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)
Though benches are installed around the Karas Bandshell, most concert-goers bring their own chairs. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)
The Marrier Orchestra Revival, a modern group playing music of the past arranged by Escanaba legend Chet Marrier, will perform the last Music Monday of the year at Ludington Park. (Photo via Marrier Orchestra Revival Facebook)
Women, children and Spiderman dance as Sit Down Francis occupies the Karas Bandshell stage earlier this week. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)
As one local man said on Monday night, "It's an Escanaba holiday when Sit Down Francis plays." (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)
Sit Down Francis plays Music Monday in Escanaba on Aug. 3. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)
A large crowd gathered on the lawn near the Karas Bandshell during a Music Monday performance by Sit Down Francis this week. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)
Steve Braun, lead vocalist and acoustic guitarist of Sit Down Francis, rocks an Escanaba t-shirt while rocking an Escanaba stage. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)
Though benches are installed around the Karas Bandshell, most concert-goers bring their own chairs. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)
The Marrier Orchestra Revival, a modern group playing music of the past arranged by Escanaba legend Chet Marrier, will perform the last Music Monday of the year at Ludington Park. (Photo via Marrier Orchestra Revival Facebook)
Women, children and Spiderman dance as Sit Down Francis occupies the Karas Bandshell stage earlier this week. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)
As one local man said on Monday night, "It's an Escanaba holiday when Sit Down Francis plays." (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)
Sit Down Francis plays Music Monday in Escanaba on Aug. 3. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)
A large crowd gathered on the lawn near the Karas Bandshell during a Music Monday performance by Sit Down Francis this week. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)
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ESCANABA — Music Mondays, a weekday evening highlight that many Escanaba residents and live music fans look forward to, are almost over. One last show is on the schedule: Marrier Orchestra Revival, whose performance intended for July 13 was cancelled due to extreme heat.
The weekly summer concerts take place at the Karas Memorial Bandshell, erected in Ludington Park in the 1950s in honor of Frank Karas, an Escanaba conductor, violinist and music teacher who led the Delft Theatre's silent film orchestra in the early 1900s.
The last Music Monday of 2026, set to occur Aug. 10, also honors an Escanaba musician of the past.
From the 1930s to the 1990s, Chester “Chet” Marrier played with the Escanaba City Band, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Michigan Music Project’s Delta County Unit, the WDBC radio orchestra, The Marrier 5 and The Marrier 7. His groups played big band and swing music until Chet’s death in 1996. Marrier operated a music store that was reportedly Escanaba’s first vinyl record retailer.
Marrier was an artist whose musical arrangements — made up of works by other composers — were appreciated by band members and others. Three years ago, Joe Hellberg of Escanaba formed the Marrier Orchestra Revival with the goal of bringing back the sounds Marrier and his bands had played decades ago.
With a full big band, the Marrier Orchestra Revival has given a number of successful performances, most recently at the Waterfront Arts Festival this past Saturday.
Their upcoming concert at the bandshell on Monday evening from 7 to 9 p.m. will conclude the 2026 Music Monday series. On occasions when past shows were postponed one to weather, the next-day events were referred to as “Tune Tuesdays.”
Playing in the series earlier this year, in reverse order, were: Sit Down Francis, the Grand Design Band, Igor and the Red Elvises, Stonewall, Peltier Brothers, Boots and Sandals, Three Wheel Drive and the Lark Brothers Blues Band.
Music Mondays, a partnership between the Bonifas Arts Center and the City of Escanaba, is sponsored by First Bank, Rievrside Auto. Highline Services, the PM School, Healthway Nutrition Store, Stenberg Bros., Delta Fence, U.P. State Credit Union, VanAire, UPPCO, Peninsula Federal Credit Union, Upper Hand Brewery, Sayklly’s, Leigh’s Garden Winery and more.
Food trucks have also been a fixture at Music Mondays and will again be present at the last show next week.