Just weeks from its kickoff event, the location of the Friday
Night Music Series is up in the air again.
Just weeks from its kickoff event, the location of the Friday Night Music Series is up in the air again.
The Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors are re-casting their votes on whether or not to move the series from West Second Street to the Community and Cultural Center after their first vote to do so, 11-0 at a late March meeting, was met with public outcry.
That outcry reached a fever pitch Monday, when the Property Based Improvement District Board of Directors weighed in with a unanimous vote to ask the chamber to keep the popular series where it’s been for 16 years. The district is made up of about 120 downtown property owners.
The district’s vote was followed by a related motion to become a sponsor of the series – with the caveat that it stay on Second Street.
The district also sponsored last summer’s September Saturdays at the community center, so it’s not like they have anything against the facility, Walton said.
“We believed that the series being in the heart of the downtown had a maximum benefit to downtown,” he said, adding that “Consistency is important too.”
Walton said since the chamber might use the Third Street Promenade’s amphitheater once that project is completed next year, it makes little sense to move it to a new location for just one year.
“We didn’t feel it was worth creating the divisiveness for a one-year move,” Walton said.
A vocal contingent of downtown business owners, led by Carta Luna gift shop owner Patty Curtis, papered the downtown area with fliers protesting the move. Curtis and others decried the vote, saying all the reasons given were not valid. Last year, when the chamber considered the same move, merchants came together as well, raising money and volunteering their time to make the event a success on Second Street.
The Community Center move was based on several factors, Chamber officials said, including the larger facility that was equipped to handle large crowds with parking and restroom facilities on location. The chamber reasoned that at the amphitheater, which has a capacity of about 1,000 to Second Street’s 200, the series would have room to grow and be more family-friendly than the current location.
As of press time Thursday afternoon, e-mailed ballots from the 14-member board were still being cast, but the vote was no longer unanimous. Chamber Vice President Brian Sullivan said he expected results by the end of the weekend.
Sullivan said he changed his mind based on the “outpouring of support for Second Street.”
“We’re a community-based organization. In my estimation we should look at it from the whole community, and we thought we did.”
But the amount of controversy still surrounding the move proved otherwise, Sullivan said.
The first concert in the series is June 5.
Check www.morganhilltimes.com today for an update.
