The 1996-1997 concert season, the premier season of the band, was a tremendous success. We performed 12 concerts in all with nearly capacity houses at the Eissey Campus Theatre. The musical quality was outstanding and we quickly developed a strong audience following. We even produced our first compact disk titled "Stars and Stripes Forever, A Centennial Celebration" which included highlights from our first season's concerts.
Our 1997-1998 season was really 3 series in one. We again performed 6 concerts in the Eissey Evening Series, but also performed 3 children's concerts at the Eissey Theatre, and also performed a series of concerts throughout Palm Beach and Martin Counties. It was an exciting season with continued success and musical improvement.
The 1998-1999 season was our most prolific to date! We performed 8 concerts in the Eissey Evening Series, 4 matinee/children's concerts at the Eissey Theatre, 3 concerts at the Lyric Theatre in Stuart, 1 concert each in Boca Raton and Belle Glade, and even performed at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach. What a year!
The 1999-2000 season continued to build on our past performance. In the Spring of 2000, a sister organization, Indian River POPS! Orchestra had its first performance at the Eissey Theatre. Also, it was announced that the Band had been invited to Russia as part of a cultural exchange program!
The 2000-2001 season saw the Indian River POPS! expand their Eissey Theatre performance schedule to three concerts and the band began building toward our trip to Russia in June 2001. The afternoon concerts at Eissey became Matinees so that patrons with evening plans could take advantage of a somewhat abbreviated afternoon program.