The Lawrence City Band’s performance at Friday’s free outdoor concert at the Lied Center will be a case of history repeating.

One hundred forty-one years ago on Aug. 20, a much-smaller Lawrence community gathered to hear the band play its first concert. It was “down by the bridge with everyone having a fine time listening to the music, visiting with neighbors and friends, laughter, singing, dancing … a good time was had by all.”

What happened early the next morning is generally accepted as the most tragic chapter in Lawrence history. William Quantrill and his band of armed ruffians surged through the city on horseback, leaving a trail of death and destruction.

It’s a safe bet Lawrence residents who flock to the Lied Center lawn for Friday’s free concert won’t have to worry about any such mayhem Saturday morning.

This is the ninth year the Lied Center has offered the concert as a gift to the community. National touring acts have been more common fare in the past, but the stars seemed aligned to bring the city band to this year’s stage.

Discussion about booking the band started out as a way to simply reinforce Lawrence’s ongoing sesquicentennial celebration, said Tim Van Leer, Lied Center director.

“But one of the things that solidified it for us was the fact that our outdoor concert date turned out to be the 20th of August,” he said. “And that’s the day before Quantrill’s Raid. Well, the 20th of August in 1863, the city band played a concert.

“As we batted it back and forth we realized that that was the significant aspect of this, so it seemed like a no-brainer for us.”

The venue and format will give the band a chance to play a larger concert than the hour-long affairs they present summer evenings in South Park. The program will span music from the Civil War era through today.

The band is composed of young and old players from many different backgrounds, including professional musicians. Most of the band’s members have played with the group for years, and some drive to Lawrence from as far away as Emporia, Topeka, Ottawa and Kansas City.

Robert Foster, former director of bands at Kansas University, has directed the city band since 1992. He is a music professor and assistant chair of music and dance at the university.

Foster said earlier this summer that this would be a special season for the group.

“It’s better than (usual) because of all the sesquicentennial excitement,” he said.

“There’s some pieces that have been written just to commemorate this (the anniversary) and to celebrate this. There’s a flurry of activity that’s really much more significant than just business as usual.”

The Lied Center concert, like the band’s season opener in South Park, is being called a sesquicentennial celebration. Among the program offerings will be Foster’s “Lawrence Sesquicentennial March,” which the band premiered last summer. Since then, the work has been published, and the sheet music bears a picture of the South Park Gazebo, where the band has played since 1970.

Before Friday’s 7 p.m. concert will be a Family Arts Festival in the garden courtyard on the east side of the Lied Center, featuring arts organizations from around Lawrence. There will be prize giveaways, balloons, clowns, face painting and other family activities.

The band will perform on the northeast lawn at 7 p.m. In case of rain, the festivities will move inside the Lied Center.