Grant is music to city’s ears
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The City of Presque Isle has been awarded a grant in the amount of $8,800 from the Aroostook County Fund of the Maine Community Foundation. The grant is specifically to purchase a sound system for the permanent public pavilion on Riverside Drive and for the concerts on Main Street.
The sound system will allow the city to provide sound for the concert series, which was established in an effort to entice more people to come downtown and hopefully convince more young professionals with families to make Presque Isle their home.
The pavilion, which will be home to the city’s public market, was constructed with the concept of being a multipurpose facility. City officials hope that in addition to the market, other events such as concerts, arts events and craft shows will be drawn to the facility. The availability of a sound system will enhance the quality of those events.
The concert series began last year, and this summer will offer an expanded schedule, with some held Sunday afternoons at the Riverside Drive pavilion and some held Mondays on Main Street.
Sunday concerts will begin at 3 p.m. and are scheduled for June 12, 2016 with the Presque Isle Bossa Quintet, July 10 with Passerine and Aug. 14 with Shawn Byrne.
Monday concerts on Main Street will start at 7 p.m. The first is June 20, featuring The Brad Hutchinson Project, and others are slated July 18 with Wally and the Virginians and Aug. 22 featuring Sound Friendships.
All concerts are free to the public.
As part of its 100th anniversary, Farm Credit East will offer an additional free concert at the pavilion on Friday, Aug. 5, around 6:30 p.m.
Movies in the Park began last Friday and will continue roughly every other week at the pavilion. These events are free and families are invited to bring lawn chairs, blankets, snacks and settle in for a good time. Future movie nights are June 10 with “Pan”; June 24, “Jem and the Holograms”; July 8, “Goosebumps”; July 22, “Shaun the Sheep”; Aug. 12, “Minions”; Aug. 26, “Up”; Sept. 9, “The Good Dinosaur”; Sept. 23, “Norm of the North”; and Octo. 7, “The Sixth Sense.”
For more information on the concert series, visit the PIDRC Facebook page. For the latest information on Movies in the Park, visit the Presque Isle Police Department’s website at http://presqueislemaine.gov/police/.
