The cost of free music

Summer time and the living is easy. Especially in our cozy, friendly small towns we call home and where we welcome streams of visitors, seeking respite, fun and some genuine modern Americana. School’s out, vacations are being planned and all our homebound chores seem to lessen. It’s festival and fair time and there’s a free concert almost every night of the week somewhere between Cloverdale, Guerneville, Sebastopol or the town squares of Windsor and Healdsburg.
How did we become so lucky to have all these roving musicians play for us under our own stars and skies? When so much else seems turbulent and contested, how great does it feel to just spread a blanket or a few chairs and share wine and good times with family and neighbors? There’s nobody or nothing to blame. The potholes can wait, housing problems can be addressed next month, political truces can be made while the music is playing. This “living easy” is easy to like. Is there somebody we can thank?
Glad you asked. There’s a lot we all take for granted in our small towns. We only notice when something breaks, somebody proposes a big change, or the newer people in town wonder why there’s a silly rule they never noticed until they moved here.
All those “free” concerts this summer aren’t actually free. Just like clean streets, safe neighborhoods, farmers markets, senior centers, playgrounds and walking trails aren’t free. And, we’re not talking taxes, we’re talking about abiding customs, volunteerism, local business boosterism and good ole’ hometown pride.
This summer’s lineup got underway last week with Cloverdale’s Friday Night Live and Healdsburg’s Tuesdays in the Plaza. It continues this month with Sebastopol’s Peacetown Concerts on Thursdays at Ives Park, the Town of Windsor’s Thursdays on the Green and Guerneville’s Rockin’ on the River series. Free to the public, all of these events are the result of local government and private business partnerships and donations. The very popular Cloverdale series is coordinated by the Cloverdale Arts Alliance. Sebastopol’s Peacetown evenings are organized by musician Jim Corbett’s Mr. Music Foundation. Windsor’s and Healdsburg’s series are coordinated by each town’s parks and recreation department and local merchant associations. But none of the music would be played without the donated money from local businesses, individuals and civic clubs.
These summer concerts have a long history, dating all the way back to railroad days when special trains transported crowds to Cloverdale and Healdsburg for summer evening community band concerts. Guerneville grew up as a river resort area with a music score of evolving decades of big bands and hit songs of the day.
We encourage everyone to clip and save the various concert lineups for this summer’s series. We also encourage all of you to support the local businesses who are sponsoring the “free” concerts. Shopping locally does lots more than just bring us a few summer evenings of music. And, we think it is OK to spread your blankets in any of the nearby towns in north and west Sonoma County. Each town’s series offers unique features of its own. Cloverdale’s Friday Night Live includes a farmers’ market and a block-long food court. Windsor’s expansive Town Green is perfect for small children to romp while grandparents bop. The Thursday Peacetown concerts under Ives Park’s redwoods offer a genuine “summer of love” vibe and Healdsburg’s Tuesday in the Plaza is a gourmet treat. The seven shows (every other Thursday) for this year’s Rockin’ on the River will climax with the Sept. 1 performance by blues great (and local resident) Charlie Musselwhite.
Soon enough, schools will reopen, politicians will get louder and our “easy living” will get interrupted. For now, live easy and get your groove on.
— Rollie Atkinson