(Radio Iowa) – A free series of outdoor concerts has been held on the Iowa Capitol grounds for nearly eight decades, but this summer’s concerts will be staged elsewhere. A new state rule prohibits organizations from holding more than one event per year at the Capitol. Dan Stevenson, executive director of the Des Moines Metro Concert Band, says they’ve found other venues for this summer’s “Music Under the Stars” events.

“We just kind of are focusing on this year and we’ll see what happens going forward,” he said. “Our job is to serve our listeners and serve Iowans.” All four of the band’s concerts on Sundays in June will be held on the lawn of Hoyt Sherman Place, a Des Moines theater that opened in 1923. The band’s fifth and final summer concert will be held in Waterworks Park in Des Moines.

The municipal band for Iowa’s Capital City was chartered 78 years ago and William Beardsley, who was Iowa’s governor at the time, gave the band permission to perform on the west side of the Capitol. Stevenson, the band’s current executive director, has played clarinet in the band for years. “A tradition like this belongs to the people of Iowa,” Stevenson says, “and that’s what we’re going to keep in mind going forward.”

The musicians in the Des Moines Metro Concert Band come from all over the state, including some who have played in symphony orchestras in other cities. Iowa’s tradition of town bands is linked to famous composers like Meredith Willson of Mason City and Karl L. King. King moved to Fort Dodge in 1920 to lead the city’s Municipal Band and was the band’s conductor until his death 50 years later.