Jeff Beal introduces Flat Sousa to Meteor Crater which is located 37 miles east of Flagstaff, Arizona. The crater is 2.4 miles in circumference, nearly 1 mile in diameter, and 550 feet deep.
The Sousa Band performed 17 different concerts in Phoenix, Tuscon, Prescott, Yuma, Douglas and Flagstaff, Arizona between 1902 and 1928. The band played matinee and evening concerts at Flagstaff Teachers College’s Ashurst Auditorium on November 12, 1928. The November 16, 1928 issue of The Conconino Sun wrote of these concerts, “Close to 1,500 northern Arizona music-lovers heard and were delighted with Sousa’s great band…there were a great many out of town people here for the concerts, the attendance from Winslow being especially large. The undertaking was a success financially…Prof. R. B. Courtright, head of the music department of the College, introduced the band and expressed appreciation of the fine attendance. The great Sousa was enthusiastically received. The soloists — Miss Marjorie Moody, soprano; William Tong, cornet, and Howard Golden, xylophone — were especially appreciated. The band travels in several special Pullmans, arrived here from Phoenix early Monday morning, leaving about midnight for Albuquerque, their next stop.” While the band would have passed by Meteor Crater on their way to Albuquerque, they did not visit the site because it wasn’t designated a National Natural Landmark until November 1967.