WARREN — The W.D. Packard Concert Band’s Fourth of July concert always is a celebration.

After a 17-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the band will have a little more to celebrate than usual when it performs Sunday at the south lawn bandshell of Packard Music Hall, followed by fireworks.

“Everyone is eager to get back,” said Thomas Groth, executive director of the band. “Setting up the schedule, I wasn’t sure until a couple weeks ago, when the governor lifted the restrictions, how we were going to do it.”

The program will feature many of the elements concertgoers have grown to expect as well as a couple selections inspired by the events of the last year.

The biggest change is the W.D. Packard Concert Band will have an opening act. Before the band performs at 8 p.m., Brass Metropolis will perform on the grounds of the National Packard Museum starting at 5:30 p.m. While not officially an offshoot of the Packard band, the Chicago tribute band includes several members of the Packard band.

“I worked on setting this up (with the Packard museum) to appeal to fans of that genre of music,” Groth said. “It’s really a good group. Close your eyes, and it’s Chicago. Singer Doug Thomas has performed with the Packard band, and he brought the house down with ‘God Bless the USA.'”

In addition to Thomas, Brass Metropolis features Rocco Criazzo, bass and lead vocals; Lake Baum, guitar and vocals; Dominic Reto, piano, organ and vocals; TJ Costanza, percussion; Dan Carioti, saxophone and flute; Lou Pisani, trumpet; and Ryan Smith, trombone.

“Rocco and I have been friends and colleagues for a long time in another band,” Carioti said. “We never quite went in the direction musically that Rocco and I envisioned. We both wanted to dive a little deeper into Chicago’s repertoire.

“When that band broke up, we said we want to do it again, so it was out there in the ether. Then Rocco came across some guys, found the right people and relaunched with this band.”

Carioti said they started rehearsing in late May when everyone was vaccinated, but July 4 will be Brass Metropolis’ first gig since February 2020.

“We’ve had a couple mostly informal sessions, blowing the dust off so to speak,” Carioti said. “But the guys in this band are all top-notch professional musicians. It’s not like they need the rehearsals of this band to keep them at the top of their game.”

For the Packard Band concert, Stephen Gage, who retired in May from Youngstown State University, will return to lead the band, and Helen Welch will be the guest vocalist.

“As always, for the 4th of July Spectacular program, we try to feature a variety of music that people can enjoy sitting on the lawn,” Groth said. “It’s not like a classical concert inside the music hall.

“Helen Welch is outstanding. The audience loves her, and the musicians like playing her arrangements.”

Welch will sing such standards as “What a Wonderful Day Like Today,” “That’s All,” “Zing Went the Strings of My Heart,” “What a Wonderful World” and “I’m Gonna Live Till I Die” as well as one of her original songs, “Wheels of Time.”

“She sent it to me and I started listening,” Groth said. “This is great. I told her we should do it at Packard. Jerry Ascione (who has written several pieces commissioned by the Packard band) arranged it, and we’re playing it for the first time on the fourth.”

The concert also will feature three movements from Richard L. Saucedo’s “Heroes Near and Far — “Courage,” “Compassion” and “Heroes” as a tribute to the heroes of the pandemic.

“I thought the title and the music just fit,” Groth said. “Heroes obviously have to have courage. With people suffering, they had to have compassion. And all together we got through this pandemic, so they’re all heroes. It just seemed like the thing to do. We’ve never had anything like this in our lifetime.”

In addition to the musical tribute, the band commissioned a piece celebrating the superheroes of the pandemic from artist Rick Muccio, whose editorial cartoons regularly appear in the Tribune Chronicle and Vindicator. Prints will be available at the Fourth of July concert and at the band’s outdoor performances throughout the summer.

A new arrangement of Disney favorites and polkas are on the program, but patriotic music will fill the setlist.

“Century of Service,” a newer march by Ryan Nowlin commissioned to celebrate the first platoon of woman Marines during World War I, will be joined by the “Star-Spangled Banner,” “America the Beautiful” and Abe Holzman’s “Spirit of Independence” march.

The concert will close as it traditionally does with a medley of Armed Forces songs, Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” and John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever,” followed by a fireworks display created by Zambelli Fireworks.

If you go …

WHAT: W.D. Packard Concert Band 4th of July Spectacular with Stephen L. Gage, conductor and Helen Welch, guest vocalist, followed by fireworks

WHEN: 8 p.m. Sunday

WHERE: Packard Music Hall south lawn bandshell, 1703 Mahoning Ave. NW, Warren

HOW MUCH: Admission is free. Funding for the band is provided by the W.D. Packard trust.

ALSO: Before the concert, the Chicago tribute act Brass Metropolis will perform at 5:30 p.m. Sunday on the grounds of the National Packard Museum, 1899 Mahoning Ave. NW, Warren.