With the encouragement of S. L. Sparks, Paddy's Run organized a boy's cornet band in February, 1887. Throughout the years of its existence, the Paddy's Run Comet Band performed at lawn fetes, community celebrations, Memorial Day services, parades, Sunday School picnics and serenades. It also sponsored and attended band reunions. These reunions were held in the neighboring communities of Okeana, St. Charles, Venice, New Haven, Millville, Minktown, Reily, Miamitown and New Baltimore as well as Paddy's Run.

In November of 1887, the band decided to purchase a bandwagon, as they tired of crowding into a huckster wagon. They selected a model for their wagon and with the assistance of "those who helped them so liberally" were able to place their order in early January with the Haverkotte Company in Cincinnati.

When the approval came from Washington,D.C., on January 17, 1888, to change the name of the post office from Glendower back to Paddy's Run, there was great rejoicing. The band marched through the streets playing a funeral march for Glendower. They also played some of their choice selections in front of the residences. The celebration continued until midnight.

The Cornet Band celebrated their first anniversary on Friday, February 17, 1888, by giving an oyster supper in the schoolhouse at New London.  A March 30,1888, article in The Venice Graphics stated: "The new band wagon is almost completed, and all who have seen it, say it is a daisy. The boys talk of purchasing uniforms in the near future."

In April, 1888, the Paddy's Run Cornet Band made a fine appearance in their new wagon. They made a circuitous trip through Okeana, Scipio, Mt. Carmel, Peoria, Reily, Bunker Hill, Mt. Auburn and Layhigh and played at the election polls. In the evening they were visited by the Okeana Cornet Band.

Their first engagement for hire was providing the music for a Sunday School picnic at the Ross school in May, 1888.  In the July 6, 1888, issue of The Venice Graphics, it was reported that the Paddy's Run Cornet Band had ordered new uniforms. "They are to be of a gray color and have meager but neat trimmings.”

By 1889 they were presenting dramas with the assistance of the community and charging admission. The drama, "Blow for Blow," was quite interesting, and the two farces "That Rascal Pat” and "The Crowded Hotel," brought down the house, which was kept in a constant roar for an hour, the time taken to play the two farces."

The band continued into the 1890's.  Some of those in the band include:  Ed Reece, John Walther, Jr., Thomas Scheel, A.A. Patton, William Robison, Ralph Clark, Raymond Evans, Henry Pfeffer, Walter Davies, and Alex Guthrie.

 © 2000 by the Butler County Historical Society