By DOUG BATES/Editor/The Herald — If you enjoy cold beverages and cool music on a hot summer day, mark your calendars for Saturday, Aug. 21. Oakridge’s nonprofit Concerts in the Park group is returning to Greenwaters Park with a big day of entertainment after a long year without it.
The planning has just begun, but the date is firm, according to Concerts in the Park committee member Evonne Lowery. She said the line-up of bands and other details are yet to be determined, but the concert will definitely be Aug. 21 at the city park’s Banner Bank Amphitheater, and the hours are likely to be noon to 8:30 p.m., much as in past years.
The group began sponsoring the park concerts in 2014. They are free to the public. Payment for the bands and related concert expenses is covered by grants of transient lodging taxes disbursed by the city. COVID-19 restrictions have significantly reduced the amount of such taxes collected in communities all across Oregon, but the Oakridge nonprofit still has funds left from last summer when the park concerts had to be canceled, Lowery said.
Despite such grants, putting on the park concerts takes a tremendous amount of volunteer effort, she noted.
“We are asking for volunteers to help with serving, setup, teardown and social media” — the group’s cost-free method of publicizing the events, she said.
Concert organizers are assuring the public that at the time of the concert four months from now, whatever COVID-19 safety protocols that remain in effect will be faithfully observed.
Anyone who wants to help can call committee member Carina Schorer at 541-968-2391 or email Rene Gobelman at [email protected]. Prospective volunteers are also welcome to attend the Concerts in the Park committee’s next planning session, set for 6 p.m. Monday, April 26, at the 3 Legged Crane Pub and Brewhouse in Oakridge, Lowery said.
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