Newtown High School alumni band Panacea performed to a packed crowd at the Dickinson Memorial Park pavilion on Sunday, September 4.To learn more about Panacea and stay up to date on their next reunion, check out Panacea Newtown on facebook.

Audience members turned out in droves, despite original weather forecasts predicting Tropical Storm Hermine could rain out the show. The sky remained clear and offered the perfect, cool weather for a night concert.

Solo act Manny Pavone opened the show. That set was followed by The Willie-Portera Trio, comprising brothers Tod and Jay Willie with Tom Portera.

Leslie Ballard of Panacea said, "Manny Pavone and the Willie-Portera Trio started things off with songs we all know and love. They are both excellent. Everyone was singing along and had a great time with them. We are all lucky to have such gifted musicians in town."

Headlining act Panacea - which consists of members Bruce Tibbitts (guitar/vocals, NHS Class of 1969); Corky Ballard, bass/vocals (Class of 1970); Rick Kuhn, drums/vocals (Class of 1970); Jon Dodson, guitar/vocals (Class of 1970); and Ms Ballard, flute/vocals (Class of 1972) - performed their set beginning at 5:45 pm.

Many attendees were eager to hear them play, having not seen them since The Great Newtown Reunion in 2013 or the reunion dance in 2014. The first show had been cut short due to time restraints on the event, and the second show had been moved into the pavilion at Dickinson Park due to rain. The third reunion show, last weekend, went on as planned.

Not only was the pavilion jam-packed with people, but so were the surrounding grassy areas with groups sitting out on folding chairs. Tables inside were shifted toward the back to allow for a dance floor in front of the stage. The spot quickly filled up with people of all ages dancing and singing along to the music.

The Bee that they felt better prepared for this concert. They felt confident in their material, even adding different songs to their set list that they felt translated well in rehearsals. They also felt ready, because a GoFundMe campaign had raised enough money for them to hire a professional sound company, an element of the show that impacted their past performance.

The band said in an email to

When speaking about the GoFundMe campaign, Ms Ballard said, "In all ways, this reunion was 'our' reunion, meaning all Newtowners - they sponsored it. And we thank everyone for that support."

Unfortunately, a few songs into Panacea's set there were some brief technical issues with the sound system. It temporarily halted their performance, but once the problem was corrected they returned to the stage motivated to make their second half even better.

"At the end of the day, it really doesn't matter if the sound is perfect, or if we hit every chord right," said Mr Dodson. "It's more about the good feelings and spirit of togetherness our reunion brings to the community we know and love."

Mr Kuhn, who traveled from Idaho to perform with his high school band, said the best part of performing is "being able to play in the place where I grew up and with people I used to know and love 40 years ago."

Reflecting on the crowd's energy he described it as "Terrific!"

Mr Ballard agreed, saying, "[The crowd] couldn't have been better. It's obvious from the start that they [were] there to have a good time."

The crowd clearly enjoyed the reunion of Panacea, but so did its band members.

Mr Dodson reflected, "I can tell you for me personally, it's a real joy not only to come home and be with the people I love and the hometown that I love, it's also a really incredible experience to hear our voices singing in harmony and seeing the happiness on the faces of the people. It fills our hearts and becomes an emotional experience for all of us, one we almost can't find the words to describe. We genuinely love each other, we love the town we grew up in, and we love the joy it brings to Newtown. I certainly hope Panacea will rise again."