Remembering 10 years in Fountain Park

Now that the 10th season of Fountain Park Summer Music has been released, allow me to reminisce for a moment.  It was 2002 and The Van Wert County Foundation had just created the position of Coordinator of Performing Arts.  I was hired and started working in January.  My make-shift office was set up in the back storage room at the Foundation office…. just me, a desk, a computer and a file cabinet.  It was quite a change from the hustle and bustle of running a music store!

I remember sitting back there for days and not receiving one phone call or email.  It was actually quite nice!  I now kid our secretaries that I think they forgot I was back there some days.  Oh the good old days!  The nice part was that I was free to dream about what could be.  That’s when the idea of the Fountain Park Summer Music Series took shape.  I had about five months to make things happen.

Five months later, we had our first concert of this new series in Fountain Park.  Do you remember who played that first concert?  It was the Kettering Banjo Society on Saturday, June 1.  It must have been the Peony Festival.  I remember walking to Fountain Park from the parade on Washington Street and seeing nearly 500 people setting up chairs and gathering at the park.  I knew then, we were on to something big!

Since that first season, we have seen a number of changes, improvements, and a lot of growth.  Allow me to tick off a few things as they come to mind.  The City added a drive down to the stage area of the amphitheater for easier loading and unloading of equipment.  (Now, if we could just get it paved!)  The Evergreen Garden Club started planting flowers and eventually hanging baskets that the city later added watering lines to.  A sign was put up by the Van Wert County Foundation along the Main Street sidewalk to advertise coming events.  I remember working this one out with then mayor Gehres. After prodding him relentlessly, he finally told me, “go ahead and put your #!*% sign up!”  Persistency does pay off sometimes.

Then after Don Crone (God rest his soul, I miss him!) complained about the port-a-johns (or “crappers” as Don put it), the Van Wert Rotary Club came to the rescue. With money raised at its auction, a new indoor restroom and concession building was added to the park. I should mention that Wayne Compton, Dick Allen, and Bernie Nieman were instrumental in building this. Alexander & Bebout and the City of Van Wert were also key to making this happen. There were others, but I must move on.

This really allowed us the opportunity to serve food at the concerts and give non-profit organizations the opportunity to make money and provide a good service.  Rotary is once again coming to the rescue as there are plans to add air conditioning to the building- quite a blessing to those working inside on those hot summer days!

There are a number of other projects downtown that saw their beginning because of the renewed interest in Fountain Park. It is true that music really does bring people together. I just have a hunch that if we could somehow get the Middle East to share music with us Westerners, there would be less fighting and more harmony.

I actually believe that the Fountain Park Summer Music Series gave some the faith to think that people in the area might also enjoy attending concerts during the fall, winter and spring months too.  Who would have ever thought we could build, pay for and then successfully operate a $9.9 million performing arts center in the middle of a cornfield?

As far as the concerts go, we have grown from a banjo pickin’ band from Kettering, Ohio (which ain’t all that bad!) to national bands and acts coming to us all the way from California, New York and Nashville.

If you haven’t seen the new summer line-up, go to www.npacvw.org, www.visitvanwert.org, www.vanwert.com/foundation, or stop by The Van Wert County Foundation or many other businesses in Van Wert to pick up a brochure which will soon be out.

Yes, we’ve come a long way, baby!

FINÉ.