Legendary Wichita rocker will be honored at memorial service this weekend

Friends and family of storied Wichita musician Mark Shelton will gather for a memorial service Saturday at the Cotillion, 11120 W. Kellogg.

Shelton, who founded the hard rock band Manilla Road in Wichita in 1977, died while the band was touring in Germany in late July.

He was 60 years old.

Saturday will be a celebration both of Shelton’s work and of Shelton the man — the service is scheduled from 1 to 4 p.m., with a reception and meet-and-greet scheduled afterward until 7 p.m.

The Cotillion’s doors open at noon Saturday.

Shelton was heralded for pioneering a genre of rock called “epic metal,” which dabbles in notions of mysticism and fantasy — and does so in rather long tracks.

Manilla Road has produced 24 albums, the most recent of which was released in 2017.

The band found the vast majority of its success in Europe, where it had toured on a regular basis since the 1980s.

Admission to the memorial service is free.