Summer Sunset performance series at bandshell moves to Monday nights

by Dan McClelland

The Village of Tupper Lake’s Summer Sunset Series on the sunset stage of the bandshell in Flanders Park will be every Monday night this coming July and August.

On Friday morning Tupper Arts leaders and members of their bandshell committee detailed to village board members the merits of staging the popular evening concerts on Monday nights.

Last year the Summer Sunset Series concerts and performances were held on Tuesday nights and each week between 150 and 200 people came out to stretch out on the lawn and enjoy the varied entertainment.

The concert series was started by the new Tupper Arts organization two summers ago. The first year the performances took place under the Rotary pavilion in the park. Those performances were held on Friday evenings that first summer. Last year the series was moved to the bandshell, after it was completed late last spring.

Last year the entire eight-week series and the cost of the performers (about $5,000) was underwritten by the village, as part of its effort to bring summer visitors from local campgrounds and summer camps into the community. The village also paid to advertise the shows.

Friday’s meeting was prompted when village leaders asked Tupper Arts organizers why Monday night was chosen this year.

“Some of the board members had some questions” about the day that was selected, Mayor Paul Maroun said in opening the morning session.

Susan Delehanty, who succeeded Louise McNally as the president of Tupper Arts, thanked the board that morning for meeting with her group and its bandshell committee.

She said her group in recent days has mulled the choice of the day at length, weighing the positives and negatives of different days of the week or the weekend.

Mrs. Delehanty turned over the presentation to George Cordes, who lined up all the performers and acts for the past series and who is working on a new schedule right now. He explained why the concerts were moved from Tuesdays to Mondays.

Mr. Cordes, who is active in both Tupper Arts and its bandshell committee, said the first year when the series was presented Fridays at the pavilion, “attendance was good but there were some issues with conflicts” with other events in town at local venues like P-2’s Irish Pub and Raquette River Brewing and others.

“There was some thought that may be that some people went to one event or the other,” but not both, he noted.

Mr. Cordes, who operates High Peaks Opera with his wife, music teacher Liz Cordes, said the night was changed to Tuesday when the series moved to the new bandshell.

“Part of the rationale was that we would catch people in camp for their vacations or at nearby campgrounds like Fish Creek and give them something to do in the middle of the week.”

He said in this year’s choice of Monday nights, the other factors they considered were the other events going on around the area. For example, Thursday evenings are Long Lake's Friends of Music series.

“The nature of what we were thinking of doing was a variety of music by different musicians and performances by groups like High Peaks Opera and Shakespeare in the Park. We wanted to draw people from surrounding communities who would be interested in those types of performances.”

He said Childwold also has a Thursday evening concert series. Lake Placid has its bandshell series on Tuesdays this summer.

Even with that conflict, the local series did very well on Tuesdays last year, drawing over 150 people to each event, he noted.

Mr. Cordes said Wednesday evenings this summer are when the bandshell series in Saranac Lake is held.

“We were hoping to put our performances on a night that wasn’t in conflict with other events that were similar,” he said.

He said by each community having their concerts and performances on different evenings of the week there may be some opportunities for joint marketing to help each other promote our respective series.

Mr. Cordes said he intends to announce the bandshell performances in neighboring towns at performances here each Monday and is hoping other bandshell neighbors will do the same for Tupper Lake.

An issue with Friday evenings is that the Historic Joseph Synagogue has Friday evening services close to the bandshell, “so there is a noise issue.”

On Saturday evenings there are commonly other events at local bars and venues, he noted.

Mr. Cordes said there are also businesses in the area which feature Friday and Saturday entertainment which could possibly conflict with weekend performances at the bandshell here.

He said he recently rejoined the Adirondack Center for the Arts at Blue Mountain Lake as its artistic director and that group has performances there and around the area on weekend nights. “That would be a big conflict for me.”

Mr. Cordes regularly serves as master of ceremonies at the performances here.

“We felt we had great turn-outs last year on Tuesday evenings. It gave people here something to do on a night other than Friday or Saturday.”

Paul Chartier, another member of Tupper Arts bandshell committee, said a weeknight choice for the series gave people entertainment during the week. “On weekends there’ stuff going on everywhere! We’d be competing with all of that!”

He said having performances Monday mights will give local organizers a chance to book bands and acts who were in the area performing over the weekend and might wish to stay an extra day and perform on a Monday night.

“It’s easier to bring a band from downstate to our area if the performers know they have a second gig nearby!”

“They come up from downstate or out of state and maybe play at the Waterhole in Saranac Lake on Saturday and they may stick around and play here that Monday if that option is there.

Susan Delehanty said her organization was very thankful to the village for paying for the performances in the series in past summer. “At our last board meeting we agreed to match the village’s $5,000 so we could double our budget for the series. It will help us attract those bands which have been out of our price range before and really improve the quality of what we are able to offer.

She added, too, that the series would also offer local groups and acts this summer, as it has done in the past.

“Anecdotally, we’ve heard from a lot of summer people who say that when they come to their summer places, a lot of times they are inundated on the weekends with their company and they are doing things at their camps. It is easier for them to come out into town on a weeknight!”

“That was another reason we were looking for a weeknight. Monday nights seem to be the night there wasn’t any competition in the area!”

“-And because of its proximity to the weekend, we might get groups who might extend their weekend stay and take a gig with us.”

Dan McClelland, another member of the bandshell subcommittee, said last year they heard from several restaurant owners who said “the weekends take care of themselves here.” They felt it would be nice to attract people on a weeknight to come to town, have dinner and attend events at the bandshell or vice versa.

Mr. Chartier noted at one point it is tough for anyone to compete Thursday nights against the Raquette River Brewery when “half the community” is there for its Thursday specials and entertainment.

Trustee Ron LaScala said he and some of his board members just wanted to know why Tupper Arts chose Monday evenings and the information they heard from the arts promoters that morning seemed very logical. “I understand now why you chose Mondays!”

“For us, when we first heard Monday night, we figured it’s the beginning of the week for most people and when they go back to work. And for many of us it’s the most hectic day of the week.

Trustee Clint Hollingsworth, who also deferred to the wisdom and research of the art promoters here, said that one of the reasons many communities don’t have events scheduled on Mondays is because “Mondays are Mondays,” and as the start of the work week and often the busiest day of the work week, people are exhausted.

He said he didn’t think the local organizers should be worrying about what is going on in the neighboring communities as there are plenty of visitors in town during the summer to attend all events.

He said he did understand the concern by organizers about event conflicts on busy weekends here each summer.

Mr. Chartier said their group had also considered Sunday night as a possible series night. “But like Monday night, people still have to go to work the next day.”

Trustee LaScala thought that weekend performances would have paired up with other events in town to give people more options on a weekend here.

“It was great to have this conversation!” he told the arts promoters.

Mr. McClelland said that there is some opportunity for other performances at the bandshell this summer like the Lions Club did last summer when it retained the Tupper Lake Ecumenical Chorus for a Thursday night performance last August. “I’d like to do a few more of those,” with some private sponsorships. Maybe have businesses pair with local bands?”

Mr. Cordes said Tupper Arts is still facing a learning curve when it comes to its Summer Sunset Series, finding out which things and which dates work best for Tupper Lake and its residents and visitors.

He said it takes a while to train the community that concerts here are on a certain night “and word will eventually spread that Tupper will now begin each week with the arts.”

He also noted that Tupper Arts sound technician Russ Fahr, who did the sound for last year’s series and does the sound work for the other bandshell series, is available on Monday nights. “Monday was a perfect day for him!”

Mr. Cordes said a number of bands have already agreed to perform here Monday nights, including the U.S. Army band from Fort Drum, which is coming in August.

Louise McNally said she is looking forward to the benefits the bandshell series organizers in each local community will get cross-promoting all the events and working together to expose as many people in the area to what’s going on during the different nights of the week.

“We have the prettiest setting of all...the most beautiful bandshell. If we can start pulling people from Saranac Lake and Lake Placid to Tupper, it’s just going to benefit everyone here!” she told the village leaders.

“Right now Monday nights make the most sense for us!” Mrs. Delehanty told the board members, who expressed their appreciation to the volunteers for their willingness to share their research with them.