Photo by Deb Gau Members of the Tracy Community Band played for an appreciative crowd as their float rolled down Sixth Street during the Tracy Box Car Days Parade. It would be their final performance — the band was dissolving after 30 years, as longtime band director Clint Peterson steps down.

TRACY — They had been a part of Tracy summers for 30 years, but now it was time to say goodbye.

“This will be our last performance. We had our final concert this summer,” said Tracy Community Band director Clint Peterson. “It’s a good end to a long run.”

As Peterson spoke, members of the Community Band were getting ready for the Box Car Days parade, climbing aboard a flatbed truck and setting up folding chairs and music stands. The preparations were the same as in past years, but a banner that would go ahead of the band in the parade lineup announced it would be their last performance.

The Community Band formed in 1990, first as an alumni band for the Tracy High School all-school reunion that year. In the decades since, the band has become part of the Box Car Days tradition, playing at nearly every single parade.

“The only one we missed was last year, with the rain-out,” Peterson said.

Band members have included Tracy alumni, and residents of Walnut Grove, Balaton and Marshall, Peterson said.

“Many have been with me all 30 years,” Peterson said. He estimated about 20 current band members have been with the Community Band since the beginning — and Peterson himself has led all their Box Car Days performances. As a former band director for Tracy High School, he’s been leading music in the parade since the 1960s.

But earlier this year, the Community Band group said they would play their last number at Box Car Days, as Peterson steps down as director.

“I’m going to be 89 years old in October,” he said of his decision to step down as band director. “I thought it was time.” And long-time members of the band said they would step down as well.

“These people have been so loyal to me all these years. I can’t thank them enough,” Peterson said.

There was a lot of time and work involved in organizing and performing, especially as a volunteer band, Peterson said.

“There is a lot more to it than what you see,” said Chauncey Muedeking, a trumpet player with the band.

At the same time, members of the Community Band are left with a lot of good memories.

“We like to play music, and there’s a lot of camaraderie,” Muedeking said.

“We had a great time when we represented the state of Minnesota in Washington, D.C.,” during the 2003 National Festival of States, Peterson said.

And with the Box Car Days parade starting up Monday afternoon, the band was going out on a positive note. As the flatbed truck rounded the corner of Morgan and Sixth streets, people lining the parade route started a round of applause for the band.