Sean Downs takes a break from dancing Saturday night at the Iberia Community Band’s Christmas performance in Loreauville to speak with his mother, Tricia Downs.  

LOREAUVILLE — About 70 or so people packed St. Theresa Hall in Loreauville on Saturday night for a performance by the Iberia Community Band.

ICB bandleader Jerry Fruge was out sick with pneumonia, but his wife, Marian Fruge, was there to perform the Mistress of Ceremonies duties in his stead.

The program, titled “A Community Christmas Concert,” began with the John Edmondson-arranged “Christmas Rock.”

In 1960, Fruge said, Brenda Lee, at age 13, recorded ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.

“It sold over 35 million copies,” Marian Fruge said.

Fruge said the night’s opening number was a blend of that song and “Jingle Bell Rock,” a popular Christmas classic recorded around the same time.

That number began more than a half hour of sometimes soaring, sometimes lilting melodies from the all-volunteer band. They played “Christmas Pipes,” a Celtic Women song; the “Dance of the Slippery Slide Trombones,” a play on the classic “Nutcracker Suite” Sugar Plumbs number, and a Griswold-inspired “Christmas Vacation,” before closing with “A Fireside Christmas.”

The band consists of musicians with a broad range of performance backgrounds, from high school students to seasoned musicians.

NISH students Ian Archangel and Tyler Dupre play trumpet in the band, Sarah Viator plays sax and Michelle Louviere plays baritone. Loreauville High School student Carmyn Darcey also plays saxophone. Saturday was their second year in a row playing the hall in Loreauville during the Christmas holiday season, an event sponsored by St. Joseph’s Catholic Church.

Conductor Joel Burt, a trumpet player, is the band director at Jeanerette High School. He began playing in the ICB in the seventh grade after his band director encouraged him to join. Following graduating in 2000 he studied music performance at ULL and UNO.

“I put down some roots here,” Burt said.

After college, he directed the band at Thibodaux High School before coming back home in the 2013-2014 academic year.

“There’s a natural feeling to us all coming back together,” he said.

Formed in 1987, the band celebrated its 30th year in 2017, having nearly doubled its size since its inception; what began as a 15-piece band now includes almost 30 musicians from around the Teche Area.

After their set Saturday night, attendees treated themselves to a table stacked with sweets set up at the back of the hall with cookies and refreshments. Then the Iberia Swamp Band set it off.

The Swamp Band formed as an offshoot of the ICB in 2014. It is composed of members of the ICB, but adds a guitar and bass guitar and gets a little bit funkier.

“It’s basically the same people as in the community band,” Fruge said, “but it’s more of the music that gets you up and dancing. They play rock n roll, jazz, that sort of thing.”

After a warmup that included some noodling along a Creedence Clearwater groove, the Swamp Band launched into “Blueberry Hill,” honoring the recently deceased Louisiana legend Fats Domino.

Still, it was a Christmas music event after all. The Iberia Swamp Band moved into “The First Noel,” “Holiday Joy” and “All I Want for Christmas is You,” before closing with “Santa Baby.”