Lawrence.com

Even without his fuzzy red suit and hat, Bill Stype looks the part of Santa Claus.

The 72-year-old retired minister has a long white beard, a circle of white hair around a balding head, St. Nick-like spectacles and a rotund belly.

And he loves playing the Jolly Old Elf.

"It's just the fun of being with the kids. I had 400 kids on my lap the last night I was there," Stype said of his final gig as Santa Claus last year at the Kansas City Zoo.

On Dec. 15, Stype will entertain kids from 1 to 92, as the Christmas carol goes, when he reads "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" at the Lawrence City Band's third annual holiday concert.

In his booming, grandfatherly voice, Stype will read the tale of Santa's visit to one family's house at Christmas between segments of music and sound effects played by the band. Though he doesn't quite have it memorized, Stype is very familiar with the story.

"I read it around our own Christmas tree every Christmas Eve," Stype said. "I don't think I could ever get tired of it."

Stype's performance will be just one of nearly a dozen at the festive concert, set for 3:30 p.m. at Liberty Hall, 642 Mass. The concert is sponsored in part by the Journal-World.

The decades-old city band, well-known for its summer concerts in South Park, will perform traditional carols, movie soundtrack music and a Christmas march.

"We're starting with tradition. We're ending with tradition," said band director Bob Foster. "Almost everything in between is new."

The program will begin with "A Christmas Festival," a tune the band has played before and that some audience members might recognize as the same number the Boston Pops play to open their Christmas concerts.

The finale will be a Christmas march that Foster arranged himself after searching far and wide for a Souza march fit for the holidays. The Souza band never played during the winter, though, Foster said, so it never needed a Christmas march. Foster combined two favorites " "Jingle Bells" and "Stars and Stripes" " and came up with "Stars and Stripes for Christmas." It's a real crowd-pleaser.

"They love Souza marches," Foster said. "We could play every other song a Souza march and the audience would be happy."

Between the festival and the march fall other recognizable tunes, most of which the band will play in entirely new arrangements. Among them are the "Nutcracker Suite," "White Christmas" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," which became available for band for the first time this fall.

Other songs on the program include "The Nutcracker Suite," music from the "Home Alone" soundtrack, "Sleigh Ride," and "Snow!" a medley that includes "Frosty the Snowman," "Let it Snow" and "Winter Wonderland."

Local attorney Bill Skepnek will narrate Dr. Seuss's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" before the band plays music from the soundtrack. His performance is impressive, said Foster, who saw Skepnek recite the story from memory several years ago at a Rotary meeting.

"He knew that material like you know your phone number," Foster said.

The concert is free and open to the public. Others sponsors include the Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department and the Rice Foundation.

A few more than 40 musicians - from high school band directors to KU students and faculty to local businessmen and women - will play in the holiday show.

"It couldn't hardly get more family-oriented," Foster said.