Few changes to music concerts

The Town Council has decided that if Summer Nights concerts
aren’t broke, they don’t need fixing.
While the council directed staff to make a few minor changes to
the popular summer entertainment program, the council rejected
significant changes to the program.
The council were presented with a series of recommendations that
included better signage regarding chair placement, restricting
placement of chairs to noon, reimbursing downtown residents for
private security, increasing seasonal staff levels, providing
transport from Windsor High School’s parking lots to The Green,
providing dedicated first aid from Bell’s Ambulance, increasing
police presence during concerts of more than 5,000 people,
establishing a new sponsorship level and enforce prohibitions on
dogs on The Green.
The council agreed to organize something special for the
concert’s 10th anniversary, add $10,000 sponsorship tier, use
Bell’s Ambulence for medical services, hire part time staff,
explore additional transport options, add security and will
reimburse the homeowners for their costs.
The council declined to modify the music selection process,
chair policy or rules regarding dogs.
“I don’t want us to over think this whole thing. It’s working
and it’s working well,” said Councilmember Debora Fudge. “I don’t
want to micromanage. If we get into all these rules of you can’t do
this, can’t do that, it becomes a whole different kind of event and
we haven’t had problems.”
While speakers at prior Summer Nights discussions had criticized
the size of the event, choice of market vendors and length of the
season, speakers at the council meeting were mostly positive.
“Thursday night is our favorite night,” said resident Matt
Caligari who said he would like to see the season extended by up to
ten weeks. “We don’t spend a lot of money on the Town Green except
for the nights we go down there for this. I know it’s good for
locals because we love it. I would just say more is better from a
resident’s perspective.”
Windsor resident and business owner Kurt Mitchler said he
personally enjoyed the events but said residents who live adjacent
to The Green have had to hire security to deal with the concert
crowds and asked the Town to reimburse the homeowners association.
“There is a direct cost that the owners association bears because
of the events on the Green,” he said. “I’d like to see the
community as a whole that does benefit from the events reimburse
the association so they don’t have an undue burden for the
events.”
Shari Kahn, owner of David’s Hot Dogs on The Green said her
business increases by 25 percent during concerts and said she based
her decision to open a business on The Green in part on the
knowledge that the concerts would bring visitors downtown. “I’ve
lived here for 13 years, it’s a great place to live,” she said. “I
can’t see changing anything that you do on Thursday nights. “
The 2010 season included the Windsor Fine Arts Show, eight
concerts funded by the Town, three concerts funded by the Farmers
Market, 11 Thursday night markets, 10 Tuesday night movies funded
by the Merchants Association, nine classic car shows and six
performances by Shakespeare on The Green. Town staff estimated that
attendance for the eight town funded concerts totaled 44,000 people
with the smallest shows attracting 3,500 attendees and Wonder Bread
5 attracting about 9,000 people.
According to Town Staff, the Town spent about $51,000 for its
eight shows or about $6,500 per concert. The Town received $30,500
in cash sponsorship plus $12,000 in-kind services and the total net
cost for 2010 was $21,300.
Mayor Sam Salmon said he strongly supported continuing the
concerts with little modification. “When you go around people have
this happiness about them,” he said “I’m looking at the crowd
dancing, looking at people having the time of their life like me
and it brings an ambiance.”
Councilmember Robin Goble agreed saying she thought many of the
perceived problems could be handled by everyone in the community
remaining civil and polite. “The more rules you do have, the less
fun it is going to be,” she said. “There is a thin line of
something could go wrong, but it doesn’t.”
While councilmembers Steve Allen and Cheryl Scholar also voiced
strong support for the Summer Nights program, they also acknowledge
feeling that something changed when the crowds grew too large.
“There has been a little bit of a subtle change,” said Allen. “I do
love that we have a big crowd coming in there and I love that
everyone gets along so well.”
Scholar said the largest events felt like they diverged from the
original intent of the shows. “My biggest concern was when there
are several thousand people, it felt like there was a tradeoff,”
she said. “It’s great to be known for wonderful big bands but just
getting back to what the intent of it was as I understand it to
promote Windsor and for Windsor families.”