SEBASTIAN — “We’re back at our roots,” said Sebastian River Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Beth Mitchell just before Swamp Fox took to the stage under the pavilion at Riverview Park. “This is where we started.”
When Tropical Storm Andrea forced Sebastian River High School’s Thursday night graduation to be rescheduled for Friday night, the Chamber lost the band stand. The stage is usually set up near the restroom facility by the oaks.
Mitchell took the relocation in stride.
“We can do anything,” she said.
The Chamber Concert Series got its start so many years ago under the pavilion at the park. As the years went on and the audience and city grew, a band stand was acquired and the Chamber allowed to use it.
This year’s concert series didn’t generate the massive crowds the Chamber has become accustomed to attracting, but weather was a major factor, according to Mitchell.
“This was a hard year,” she said, noting that just about every concert faced some challenge from the weather. “Our attitude is always ‘the show must go on,’ but we leave it up to the band.”
With umbrella at the ready and dinner from Subway dangling in its bag between them, Richard and Lilli Hullen were ready for Swamp Fox to perform.
For the last three or four years, they’ve been attending the concerts.
What keeps them coming back? The entertainment – free music and the people-watching, they said.
Now that the series is done for the season, Richard Hullen said they’d have to find something else to do with their time. He explained that their granddaughter is now out of school.
“She’ll keep us busy,” he said.
Fellsmere resident Buddy Akers made the drive out to Riverview Park to take in the concert and munch on the snacks.
“I gotta have my popcorn to go along with it,” Akers said, adding that he wanted to attend to support the Chamber as well as the Sebastian Lions Club.
Dr. Norman Meyer was one of several Lions members at the event, weaving through the crowd offering popcorn for a $1 donation to the Lions Club charity fund.
The Sebastian Lions Club has gotten the reputation of popcorn provider after years and years of offering the snack at various community events. Now, it’s tradition.
“We don’t know any better,” Dr. Meyer joked.
The Sebastian River Area Chamber of Commerce presents the annual concert series in partnership with the City of Sebastian, which underwrites the expense of booking the bands through the Community Redevelopment Agency fund. Each band typically receives $500 to perform, according to Mitchell.
The concert is a free event meant to draw residents and visitors alike to the waterfront district and connect them with local businesses through a free drawing of tickets. Businesses in the area donate goods and services to be awarded as door prizes to help generate new customers.
The Chamber will begin in October scheduling the bands for the next season, which will start in 2014. Mitchell expects to have many of the same bands return and add a couple new ones – who those will be has yet to be determined.