Music fills the air

Published 2:49 pm Friday, June 2, 2006

By Staff
Each summer, the sounds of music emerge in our parks, as the summer concert series provide free entertainment for all ages.
Armed with their lawn chairs, couples come and enjoy a break from the to-do lists around the home.
The Riverfront Amphitheater provides the prefect setting for the concerts held in downtown Niles each season.
The free Sunday concerts start June 11 at 6 p.m., with Jump Street Swing Band with Rodney Cordner.
The Wednesday series will open with the SMC Brass Band on June 7 at 7 p.m.
Elvis will be in town as Irv Cass leads off the Thursday concerts June 8, which all begin at 6:30 p.m.
Along with the music offered a few evenings each week, special festivals bring top name entertainment to our community.
This weekend is the Niles Bluegrass Festival with two stages and more than 20 acts. Along with the free listening, there will be fiddle and banjo concerts, open jams, a picker's tent, food, arts and crafts and children's games and rides.
In Dowagiac, the 11th season of the Beckwith Park Summer Concert Series just opened on Thursday.
The vocal and instrumental series, sponsored by the Dowagiac Downtown Development Authority (DDA) and Greater Dowagiac Chamber of Commerce, is being fully underwritten this year by the St. Denys Foundation, which was founded by Helen Rudolphi Tremble in memory of her husband, Sidney Beach Tremble.
The program lasts 10 weeks and is held at the Haggin-Wimberley Memorial Bandstand, located at the corner of Front and Beeson streets.
Thanks to many faithful volunteers, these concerts provide a place to meet friends and feel the sense of community so unique to our small towns.
Most of the Thursday evening concerts begin at 7:30 p.m., except for the weekend of July 27-29, when evening performances begin earlier and end later in the evening, as multiple, back-to-back performances are featured.
The 10-week concert series will host: the Keith Scott Trio, June 8; Fonn Mor Irish Band, June 15; Otsego Jazz Ensemble, June 22; About Time, June 29; 4th Avenue and a free ice cream social, July 6; Grand Rapids Accordion Ensemble, July 13; Lake Effect Jazz Big Band, July 20; Ars Voce, which is Latin for Art of the Voice, and the Old Moonlighters, on Fun Fest Thursday, July 27; Kuungana African Drum &Dance Group, Kalamazoo Bag Pipe Band and Sophisticated Swing on Fun Fest Friday, July 28; and the Renaissance String Quartet, Aug. 10.
Due to the Cass County Fair, a concert will not be held on Thursday, Aug. 3. In addition, a raindate is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 17, should any of the concerts earlier in the season be cancelled due to inclement weather.
To receive a concert schedule, call the Chamber of Commerce and DDA at (269) 782-8212. The public can also access the performance schedule on line at www.dowagiacchamber.com