The Palmerton Community Band, with more than 100 years of history in the borough, will be joined by a special soloist for their performance this year at the Palmerton Community Festival.

Ron Barron, former principal trombonist for the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops, will be joining the band in the bandstand for their show Saturday at 1:30 p.m.Barron's wife is a Palmerton native.The band has had soloists before, but Barron is one of the best-known musician to play with the band in its 100-year history.Throughout the middle part of the past century, the band would regularly play multiple shows each week at church picnics, VFW halls and other civic gatherings.Long before he was the band's director, Joe Plechavy used to watch the band after he finished playing youth baseball near the borough's old "coal bowl.""Thursday nights they would have a concert," Plechavy recalled. "I would go over after the baseball game."In those days, the band would play dozens of concerts each year. They would travel to festivals in Kunkletown, Slatington and Little Gap, among other locations.Nowadays, the band plays a handful of concerts each year, usually in the borough park. The band has about 30 members for a given performance - more or less depending on whether its college-aged members can make it back into town.The band includes members of every age - from young teens to senior citizens. They continue band traditions, like playing Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever" at the end of each show, while including new music."We try to buy a little new music each year - some of the stuff since 1911 doesn't go over very well, and the stuff that does, we may not have the instrumentation to play it," Plechavy said.The band's performance at the community festival will include a medley of '80s music, an Elvis medley, and songs from the musical "Grease."