High Peaks Community Band members pictured here, from left, are Ryan Nerp, Taylor Prosper, Jim Huneycutt, Mitchell Vanier, Dean Dietrich, Jamie Rogers, Valerie Rogers, Sam Baker, Emileigh Kukuvka and Mike McCreadie. (Provided photo — Emileigh Kukuvka)

LAKE PLACID — Lake Placid has a new community band.

Dubbed the High Peaks Community Band, the new resident group recently played its first gig at the Lake Placid Middle-High School. The band was created late last year by Lake Placid Middle-High School music teacher Emileigh Kukuvka and Dean Dietrich (saxophone), a retired teacher and current village justice and chairman of the Lake Placid-North Elba Community Development Commission.

The catalyst for its creation: a recent Cornell Institute of Public Affairs study on developing a local public arts commission, according to Dietrich.

The study, commissioned by the local CDC last year, found that “an increase in public art can enhance the social fabric of a community, as well as revitalize businesses and increase tourism and economic potential of an area.” So Dietrich decided to look into the creation of a community band.

It’s unclear when Lake Placid last had a community band. In Saranac Lake, a North Country Community Band was started at North Country Community College in 1969. It was led by George Reynolds initially, then Saranac Lake High School music teacher Fred Baker. As recently as 1994, there was a Tri-Lakes Community Band that met in Saranac Lake. There are also mentions of an Adirondack Community Band and Elizabethtown Community Band in the Lake Placid News archives.

Lake Placid Middle-High School music teacher Emileigh Kukuvka (News photo — Elizabeth Izzo)

“I’ve always wanted to get a community band started, and this seemed like a good time,” Dietrich said.

So he turned to Kukuvka, who is a trained musician. They put the word out that a new community band was looking for members, and started rehearsals this past December, according to Kukuvka.

“We noticed there are choruses, choirs that are community choirs,” she said. “There’s no real band opportunities, for people just to get together and play. The whole concept is to form a sense of community through music, and just to play music and have fun.”

There is also the High Peaks Ringers community hand bell choir that’s been around for more than 30 years, but that’s different than a community band.

The High Peaks Community Band played its first gig — a test run to see how the group worked together, according to Dietrich — at the Lake Placid Middle-High School auditorium on Sunday, Feb. 16. The group played some old standbys — “Oh Shenandoah,” “The Typewriter” and “Vertigo” — with some surprises, like the theme song from the 2004 Pixar film “The Incredibles.”

“It went really well,” Kukuvka said. “It was a small audience and a small ensemble, but they sounded great. They were small but mighty.”

The High Peaks Community Band now has 15 members from Lake Placid, Saranac Lake and Jay.

The group is expected to get together again to rehearse on April 21. According to Kukuvka, the band will rehearse once a week for six weeks in the leadup to the next Lake Placid Community Day on Sunday, May 31 at the North Elba Show Grounds, where the band is slated to perform.

More members are sought.

“No age restriction, no age limit. You don’t have to be a professional player,” Kukuvka said. “You don’t have to be very good, either.”

Anyone interested in joining can contact Kukuvka at ekukuvka@gmail.com or visit the band’s Facebook page.