The Lehighton and Palmerton bands will once again join forces to present a combined concert, this time in the Lehighton Park.

Band directors Brad Cressley and Joseph Plechavy discussed the possibility of doing this for a few years and last year finally made it a reality, playing to a large crowd in Palmerton’s Park.

As this year is Lehighton’s year to host, the concert will be held in the Lehighton Park Amphitheater at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

The concert is free to the public. Concertgoers are encouraged to bring a lawn chair which can be set up on the tiered section of the newly renovated part or in grassy areas on either side or in the upper level of the park. The bands ask that those attending the concert exercise social distancing and wear a mask when they are unable to do so.

Several members of the band play with both the Lehighton Band and the Palmerton Band.

This concert gives both bands the opportunity to create music with others who they normally wouldn’t get the chance to.

The band will open the concert with “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Each director has then chosen six pieces from their band’s library.

Lehighton’s selections

The Lehighton, directed by Cressley, will open the concert with the march and theme song from the popular movie “A Bridge Too Far.” They will then play “A Marvin Hamlisch Showcase,” which includes “They’re Playing My Song,” “Nobody Does It Better,” “One,” “If You Remember Me,” “The Entertainer” and “What I Did For Love.”

Their patriotic selection is “American Flourish” by Robert W. Smith. They will follow up with “Great Themes from Italian Movies” by John Cacavas. The band will then head to Broadway and play “Music from Wicked.”

The final number from the library of the Lehighton Band will be “Afterlife” by Rossano Galante. This piece of music was donated to the Lehighton Band in honor of longtime director of the band Paul Smith, who led the band from 1966 until his death in 2016. The band dedicates the playing of this piece to his memory and the legacy he left behind.

Palmerton’s selections

Plechavy will then take the podium to direct the next six pieces and start with an exciting band arrangement called “Accolade” by Brady Massey. The combined band will then head back to the great white way and play “Selections from Dear Evan Hansen,” which includes three of the show’s most popular songs, “For Forever,” “Waving Through a Window” and “You Will Be Found.”

They will then play “Red Covered Bridge” by Robert Sheldon; “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” “It’s You I Like,” “It’s Such a Good Feeling,” plus some Trolley music.

The final selection for the concert will be “Agua’s Whelm.” This song tells the story of the tragedy that occurred in Central America in 1541 when a long quiet volcano, “Agua,” suddenly erupted, completely wiping out the city of Ciudad Vieja.

A tradition of the Lehighton Band is to always have an encore, and the tradition of the Palmerton Band is to “do 36 and done” which refers to march number 36 in their march books; so the bands will combine their traditions and the encore will be John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever.”