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durhamregion.com | This Week | Thursday, July 14, 2022 | | 16 "Get the best architect, build the Bandshell and send me the bill." With those words, car builder, philanthropist and Oshawa legend Colonel R.S. (Sam) McLaughlin signed off on a new home for the Oshawa Civic Band (OCB). It opened in July 1942 and cost $18,000 to build. "The acoustics of the Bandshell are considered outstanding and the Bandshell is known as one of the finest in Canada," heritage consultant Melissa Cole said in a 2016 report prepared for Heritage Oshawa. To celebrate the milestone, the OCB and Oshawa vocalist and music teacher Kristine Dandavino are performing 'O Canada' on July 20 at 7:30 p.m. at the bandshell. Dandavino says band director Rita Arendtz has programmed music played at that first concert in 1942, including 'Sunshine of your Smile' composed by Lilian Ray in 1913. Dandavino said "the community is grateful to Colonel Sam McLaughlin for his donation." In a 2007 Oshawa This Week story on the OCB, former longtime member Bill Askew recalled the night the bandshell opened. Askew was in his early '20s at the time. "Sam pulled up in his limo and the maid and the chauffeur accompanied him and (wife) Adelaide to the bench they had reserved," recalled Askew, a member of the Oshawa Walk of Fame who was named Ontario's Citizen of the Year in 2007 and died in 2012. Car blankets were spread on the bench for the McLaughlins to sit on. At 7:15 p.m., band president Bert Bathe approached McLaughlin and said, "the boys would like you to come down to the band room for a moment." Presentations were being made to older band members, smoking cabinets in appreciation for their long service to the group. Askew recalled McLaughlin standing off to the side watching, and perhaps getting a bit impatient. "Well boys, I'm waiting to hear the concert," he remarked, preparing to leave. But McLaughlin was stopped and Bathe told him it was his turn. McLaughlin tore the wrapping paper off his own smoking cabinet, a gift as thanks for the bandshell, the band instruments and uniforms he had provided. "His eyes started to fill up," Askew recalled. "He said, 'you know, I do things because I like doing things. But this is the first time I've received something tangible.'" Dandavino invites people to "bring your lawn chairs and your singing voices" to Memorial Park, at Simcoe and John streets. COLONEL SAM'S BANDSHELL GIFT CELEBRATED IN OSHAWA WHAT'S ON The Oshawa Civic Band performed at the Memorial Park Bandshell in 2011. See the band there July 20 at 7:30 p.m. to mark the bandshell's 80th anniversary. Vocalist Kristine Dandavino will join the band for a playing of 'O Canada.' Metroland file photo