For about 25 years, the Overland Park Civic Band has stored its instruments, equipment and a library of thousands of music titles inside Tomahawk Ridge Community Center. Now the nearly 90-year-old ensemble has to clear all of it out by Dec. 30, and the roughly 60-member group still doesn't know where it's going next.
The band, which is based in Overland Park, Kansas, confirmed the looming deadline as reported by KSHB 41 Kansas City, which first reported that the community center needs more space. The band needs to move its storage and rehearsal operations out of the building at 11902 Lowell Ave., where it has held weekly Tuesday evening rehearsals, according to the Overland Park Civic Band.
Music Director and Conductor Andrew Yates has publicly asked for community help finding both rehearsal space and equipment storage, per the station's report. He said he hopes the search leads to a permanent home for the next generation of musicians, adding that the arts are very important in any city and that the band is honored Overland Park wants a civic band.
A Nearly 90-Year Musical Tradition Under Pressure
The band traces its roots back to 1938, when it was founded as the Northeast Johnson County Community Band under its first conductor, John Francis, before later adopting its current name as Overland Park grew and incorporated, according to the Overland Park Civic Band. Today the ensemble draws roughly 60 adult amateur and professional musicians from across the Kansas City metro, rehearsing weekly for 40 weeks a year between September and July, the band says on its website.
Yates took over as music director in July 2022, succeeding longtime conductor Cletson Cox, who joined the band in 1983 and retired effective July 10, 2022, per the same account. The transition kept continuity in place for a group that has also picked up regional recognition over the decades, including performance honors at the Kansas Bandmasters Association convention and guest appearances with the Missouri Bandmasters Association and the Joplin ProMusica series.
Why Tomahawk Ridge Needs the Space Back
Tomahawk Ridge Community Center has told the band that the facility itself requires additional space, the station's report notes. Tomahawk Ridge includes multipurpose rooms alongside its athletic and health amenities.
The squeeze on municipal space comes as Overland Park keeps growing. The city is now the second-most populous in Kansas, with a 2025 population of 206,030, according to the Overland Park Chamber, citing the City of Overland Park. That growth is part of the broader context for community arts groups in the area.
Free Concerts Continue Despite the Uncertainty
Even as it searches for new quarters, the band has a full concert schedule ahead, including a holiday performance. Its 2026 holiday concert is set for Thursday, Dec. 17, at Atonement Lutheran Church, 9948 Metcalf Ave. in Overland Park, according to the Overland Park Civic Band.
All of the band's seasonal concerts remain free to the public thanks to partial sponsorship from the City of Overland Park combined with private contributions, per the Arts & Recreation Foundation of Overland Park. The Overland Park Orchestra is a separate volunteer ensemble founded in 1973 that performs throughout Overland Park, according to KCUR. The city supports the Civic Band's free concerts and provides backing to the orchestra.
For now, the civic band's immediate challenge is logistical rather than dramatic: finding secure storage for thousands of music titles and heavy percussion equipment, plus a rehearsal space large enough to host a full wind ensemble every week, before the Dec. 30 deadline arrives.
