The Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce should give serious
consideration to moving the Friday Night Music Series to Second and
Depot streets
The Friday Night Music Series has become a summertime staple in downtown Morgan Hill. It draws hundreds of people downtown, boosts business and raises awareness for downtown merchants.
Putting together the music series takes a lot of behind-the-scenes volunteer effort, most notably putting up and taking down the stage each week. Along with members of the Kiwanis Club, BookSmart owners and music series founders Brad Jones and Cinda Meister have consistently provided that help, even after they moved their business from the corner of Second and Monterey, right next to the Friday Night Music Series venue, to Second near Depot.
Last spring, when moving the music series to the large parking lot at BookSmart’s new location was suggested, downtown merchants nixed the idea, promising to provide more assistance in setting up and taking down the stage.
Unfortunately, we’re hearing reports that the promised help hasn’t materialized.
It seems only fair that if downtown merchants want to keep the series at Monterey and Second, they ought to be assisting with work that hosting the series in that location entails.
It’s also worth noting that music series attendance has dropped this year, falling from recent years’ peaks of 800 attendees. This year the Friday Night Music Series drew an average of 500 people downtown each week.
Perhaps a change of location would give the music events a boost. Especially with the recently completed work on Depot Street, and the upcoming work on Third Street promenade, downtown is expanding. Moving the music series acknowledges and leverages the changing face of downtown.
We see lots of advantages to moving the music series, and very few drawbacks. We encourage the Chamber of Commerce to give serious consideration to moving it. The Friday Night Music Series is an important asset to Morgan Hill’s changing downtown, and a new location might give volunteers and attendees a renewed sense of vitality and excitement.
