Maynard has been many different towns: a mill town, a tech hub and now an up-and-coming place to live thanks to new retail developments and increased attention towards the schools.

But there’s a constant among these changes. From its incorporation in 1871 — at which two bands played in the inaugural parade — to present-day concerts at Sanctuary and Memorial Park, the town has used music to celebrate the arts and build community.

Throughout all its forms, Maynard has been musical.

“I think the longest history is the whole business of community bands and how far back that goes,” said David Mark, Maynard historian and writer.

In the early 1900s, a bandstand at the corner of Walnut and Main Streets had performances every Wednesday night during the summer. The community bands — the Maynard Military Band, the Finnish Imatra Band and the Finnish National Band — performed here for hundreds of people.

The three bands merged in 1947 to form the Maynard Community Band, and they’ve been playing around Maynard ever since. The downtown bandstand is no longer, but the summer Wednesday night tradition lives on in Memorial Park.

Today, Memorial Park is also the home of the Maynard Jazz and Country Fests, which are free events funded by local businesses and grants from the Cultural Council.

The Jazz Fest was first organized five years ago by Armand Diarbekirian, ArtSpace president and Economic Development Committee chair.

“We were designated as a cultural district and there wasn’t really a lot going on,” said Diarbekirian. “I thought it would be a fun thing to do, and nobody was doing [it] in the area, especially for jazz.”

The Jazz Fest features local jazz ensembles, including the Maynard High School jazz band.

Diarbekirian added that the events help Maynard economically.

“That’s one of the reasons why we wanted to do these types of festivals, so they could bring people into the town, and they end up spending money in town,” he said.

He started the Maynard Country Music Festival last year, which also features local talent. Last year’s event included Houston Bernard and Ashley Jordan, both winners of major New England music awards.

But Maynard has seen bigger names. In the ’70s, the second floor of 63 Main St. was home to Northern Recording Studio, first established by Boston-based music industry professionals Peter Casperson and Bob Runstein.

Several rock bands recorded in the space, including Boston, The Cars and Talking Heads, the latter of whom also used the studio for a 1977 broadcast on Greater Boston radio station WCOZ. Aerosmith was also rumored to have recorded a few tracks in Maynard.

About a decade after Northern Recording Studio was founded, a restaurant and music venue opened on 163 Main St. called The Sit’n Bull Pub.

“From what I understand, bands might have been at the recording studio, and when they [were done with] that, just headed over to the Sit’n Bull sort of impromptu,” said Mark.

The Sit’n Bull hosted notable names including The Kinks guitarist Dave Davies, Ronnie Earl and Jay Geils of the J. Geils Band and Susan Tedeschi now of the Tedeschi Trucks Band.

Diarbekirian recalls seeing singer-songwriter Eddie Money at the venue.

“To me that was a big deal, and he was still kind of a big hit at the time, so it was nice to be able to see that,” he said. “[The venue] was attracting a lot of people at the time, so it became an unfortunate thing that we lost it.”

The Sit’n Bull closed in 2007 because it was unable to cover the costs of a new sprinkler system that met safety regulations.

But following in its footsteps is Sanctuary, a venue launched in 2019 in the church on 82 Main St.

Sanctuary hosts national touring acts as well as local talent, and many of the smaller local shows are free to encourage support of local music.

The venue also has events like weddings, baby showers and graduation parties.

According to Shannon Phypers, Sanctuary’s general manager, the Sanctuary team is still working on renovations with the goal of it being a “real central point for Maynard, a place of gathering.”

“[We hope] people know that this is a trusted place that you can come to celebrate anything that needs to be celebrated,” she said.

Live music can also be heard at the Farmers’ Market every Saturday and at Porchfest, an annual event where local musicians perform on porches around town.

And musicians can purchase instruments downtown: flutes at the Powell Flutes Showroom and Factory in the mill and violin family instruments at Spencer Brook Strings on Nason Street.

In a few decades, Maynard will probably be a very different town. But one thing’s for sure — it will always be a place where music is synonymous with community.