Two donations lift Lions band shell campaign over the top

A donation of $500 from the Dattola Brothers- Rick, Jim and Dan, and their families and staff of Tupper Lake Supply Co. and a second one for $200 from former Tupper Laker and long time Big Tupper Ski Area promoter Glenn White of Syracuse put the Lions band shell fundraising over the top this past week.  The Lions Club's goal of $40,000 to build the performance art structure later this summer has been met.
“We're anxious to get going once we get final approval from the state Department of State which has provided grant money to the village to reshape the Flanders Park into a shorefront entertainment venue,” said Lions Club President Dan McClelland.
“The support for our project has been overwhelming, he said this week.  “Now we want to get going!”
Mr. McClelland is a member of the village committee overseeing the entire project, which includes a terracing of the Flanders area into natural seating for the Lions bandshell and all new drainage there.  Other members include Mayor Paul Maroun, CEO Pete Edwards, Village Clerk Mary Casagrain, Trustee Ron LaScala, all working with grant-writer Melissa McManus.  Three consultants are working with the committee, Architect Andrew Chary, who designed the bandshell, Kurt Bedore, a Tupper Lake native and civil engineer in the Albany area who has been working on the various infrastructure elements of the Flanders Park conversion and Terrain, a New York City-based design firm which has created the new master plan for the Tupper Lake Municipal Park, including the Raquette Pond beach study.  There will be various landscape improvements to the lower section of the entertainment venue near the shoreline, including shrubbery, plantings, lighting and a rain garden to collect some of the surface run-off behind the band shell that Terrain has been working on.
All their designs and plans need state department approval before work can commence, under the terms of the various grants the village has receivedfor the redevelopment of the park.
Plans are to begin construction of the bandshell this August.
In Andrew Chary's design the base of the band shell will be shovel-shaped, wider in the front than in the rear.  The rear portion will be enclosed with a storage area, the sides will be glass and the entire structure is expected to be a timber-peg design for strength.  The platform of the stage will be built on a series of concrete fingers to permit air to circulate under it.
A large stone patio area will be built in font of the shell for dancing.