MINNEAPOLIS — What instruments come to mind upon hearing the words “marching band”? Perhaps a brass instrument, or percussion.
If kazoos aren’t high on that list for you, then you may have not met Gary Berg, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire alumnus who is marking 100 years of the university’s homecoming with the UWEC Alumni Kazoo band. The quirky band, originally known as the Bridgeman Hall Marching Band, started in the 1970s and has been a beloved staple at UWEC homecoming parades going back decades.
Highlighting the unusual and fun is in Berg’s DNA. For example, while some may do 2K or 5K runs to help fundraise for various causes, Berg went in the opposite direction and started doing zero-K runs — “they’re just like a marathon except no one runs. The horns go off, you stand up, and then you sit back down,” Berg explained in a recent interview with the Leader-Telegram. “People who know me know I’m strange, so they’re not too surprised when it comes from me.”
Berg is the president of the UW-Eau Claire Alumni Association Board of Directors, and he wanted to do something unique to mark the university’s upcoming homecoming centennial. Berg runs an entertainment agency, GL Berg Entertainment, which he started after he left a teaching position in higher education.
The company was started over three decades ago, and is now the largest entertainment agency in the Midwest, booking over 4000 shows a year at venues worldwide, and one of the company’s biggest clients is the Minnesota State Fair.
“I know their entertainment department well, including the woman who runs the parade they have each day at the fair,” Berg said. “I reached out to her and said, ‘I have this idea of putting together an alumni kazoo band to march in this year’s parade to promote the 100th anniversary of homecoming at UW-Eau Claire,’ and she said, ‘That sounds fantastic. We’ve never had a kazoo band in our parade.’”
So Berg began organizing and coordinating with alumni, friends, family and more to put together the event, all to celebrate the university’s 100th homecoming anniversary which takes place October 4. As of interview time, 45 people have signed up to march with the band to perform in the state fair’s parade on Wednesday, August 27.
“We can go as high as 75 people, and I’m sure we’re going to get many more.”
When asked about responses that he’s gotten Berg said that “at first, people say it sounds weird, but as they learn about the experience, they say, ‘Okay, that sounds kind of cool.’ The real reason [for the band] is that we want people to gather and have fun and enjoy the experience. And that’s what our alumni association tries to do in general.
“We’re fun people, and we want to engage people, so this is just another opportunity to do that and to do it with a little more of a purpose than we normally do.”
For Berg, the initial reactions are intentional as it leads eyes to the city of Eau Claire.
“I try to get a lot of people to take those weekend vacations to Eau Claire and [tell them], ‘Stay downtown,’ ‘Check out the university,’ ‘Check out everything that’s been going on’ — you know, the Pablo Center and all those great things. And they’re amazed because it’s a really, really cool city.”
And it’s not just the city he helps promote, but also his alma mater that he holds dear.
“UW-Eau Claire taught me so much — it taught me how to learn, it taught me to think critically,” said Berg. “The school is spectacular, so I’m happy every chance I get to promote it.”