Concert Series Nearing End

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June 19, 2018
  • By KENDRA STRAWDERMAN For the Daily News-Record          6/19/18
 
 
HARRISONBURG — After nearly three decades, one downtown concert series is coming to an end following the demise of another whose final run was last year.

The last Fridays on the Square concert will take place this week at 6:30 p.m. featuring Bryan Elijah Smith and the Wildhearts and the Nighthawks.

The free event had been presented by Citizens for Downtown and other groups every Friday during summer on the lawn of the Rockingham County Courthouse since 1990.

In 2017, FundFest also ended after at least two decades of concerts in the grassy area behind the Harrisonburg Municipal Building along South Liberty Street. Hosted by the Harrisonburg-Rockingham SPCA for the past decade, the biweekly concert benefited the animal welfare organization and other local nonprofits.

According to the SPCA’s Emily Edy, the longtime tradition ended due to a lack of interest, both from volunteers and concertgoers.

“We aren’t doing FundFest because it wasn’t as profitable as it was in the past for us and the other organizations,” she said.

FundFest reached its peak in 2010, when it averaged a turnout of 700, Edy said, but attendance dropped to an average of 300 people per concert in 2016. She did not have figures for 2017.

Most of the money the SPCA raised from the event came from ticket sales, and with turnout low, it was no longer feasible to continue. Other organizations that have benefited from FundFest include Camp Still Meadows and the Arc of Harrisonburg-Rockingham County.

Fridays on the Square will soon follow the fate of FundFest.

Andrea Dono, executive director of Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance, also cited a lack of resources as the main reason for the series ending.

“Organizations like mine have to be strategic with events because they cost a lot of money and it is difficult to find volunteers,” she said.

Dono spoke of a phenomenon known as “volunteer fatigue” that is taking a toll on the Harrisonburg area.

The organization does not have plans to take on another concert series or similar event, she added.

HDR collaborated with Citizens for Downtown and the Arts Council of the Valley to host Fridays on the Square, but Citizens for Downtown announced in a Facebook post in March that it will disband.

“We have decided that our mission has been realized and it’s time to bid farewell to Citizens For Downtown,” the post said.