Come summer, the Sound will offer panoramic vistas of boaters anchoring at Charles Island on Saturday afternoons. The smell of suntan lotion and Goodies French fries will fill the salty air at Gulf Beach. And everything from The Beatles and Rolling Stones, to R&B and Motown favorites will be rocking at any of the city’s free summer concerts.
For countless locals, the summer concert series has become an annual tradition, with families of all sizes heading downtown to enjoy free musical entertainment on Friday nights. Milford harbor will once again serve as the picturesque backdrop for each of the eight summer concerts set for 2015.
The concerts, which began in the mid-1970s and were originally held on the Green, are now known as “Summer Nights by Harbor Lights.” They are hosted by the Milford Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with the downtown-based law firm Kapusta, Otzel & Averaimo.
“Our firm has been sponsoring concerts for 27 years,” said attorney Paul Otzel.. “We started on the Green and when crowds grew too large for the venue, moved to Fowler Field about 15 years ago.”
According to Otzel, his colleague, Bob Kapusta played saxophone in bands during high school and college.
“He saw the concerts as a means to promote music in town. He was also of the belief that we make our living as attorneys in Milford so we should bring something back to the community. The concerts are a great way for Milford residents to come together, all ages, in a sense of community: babies and toddlers interacting with seniors; everyone petting the dogs out for a walk; the buses from assisted living facilities; mingling in line at the ice cream truck. Friday nights in Milford are a real slice of Americana—the way small towns used to be.”
The Summer Nights by Harbor Lights concert series is held at the Fowler Field Rotary Pavilion on Friday evenings from 7:00– 9:00 p.m. This year, the series begins on Friday, June 12th and runs through August 7th. The season opener featured the Milford Concert Band with a blend of pop and show tunes.
In the weeks following, Jay Rowe & Friends entertained with smooth jazz, and July will bring the ever-popular The Bernadettes, sharing their unique mix of R&B classics from James Brown, Ray Charles, and Marvin Gaye—sounds that have earning them titles like New Haven’s number one bar band and the New Haven Advocate’s Best Rhythm and Blues Band.
The seven-piece soul band What Up Funk, known for its high energy dance repertoire, will play July 24th, followed on July 31st by That Band playing ‘80s party tracks. Milford’s very own Rumrunners will close the 2015 season on August 7 with a performance guaranteed to have the crowd up singing and dancing up a summer storm!
Kathy Alagno, president of the Milford Chamber, says the 2015 season will really “get the pavilion rocking.”
“Twenty years ago there was a lot of big band, show tunes, and classical music with maybe one to two rock n’ roll bands,” Alagno said. “Now you’ll see young families with small children to middle aged and seniors that are up and dancing.”
The summer concert series is a way for the Chamber to give back to the community and bring people to the downtown area.
“There’s nothing nicer than being on Milford harbor on a warm summer night with a breeze blowing and relaxing at a concert,” Alagno said. “Hopefully visitors will stop in for dinner at one of the local restaurants or pop into one of the many shops downtown.”
Milford resident Kelly Soter is one of those folks, and she looks forward to spending Friday nights at the concerts with her family.
“I go with my mother, my husband, and our toddler,” Soter said. “People bring blankets and chairs and everyone dances. It’s a great way to unwind and start the weekend off.”
Across town, the Walnut Beach Association will offer its own free summer concerts for its fifth continuous year. Milford resident Wendy Terenzio, has been the guiding force in the series since she saw the Devon Rotary pavilion and felt the need to fill it with music.
“When I joined the Walnut Beach Association and saw what they were doing in the community, I knew it would be a good addition in a time when they were in the midst of the beautification process and building up local businesses,” Terenzio said.
This season will bring 11 concerts, the most the Association has hosted, kicking off on July 4th with The Paul Leonard Band. After that the series moves to Sundays from 4:00 – 7:00 p.m. through August 30th.
Terenzio says the season will bring back a number of repeat bands from previous seasons, as well as plenty of new faces offering Afro-Cuban jazz, Motown, and R&B.
Fan favorites including the Signature Band will entertain with a blend of rock, dance, and current hits on July 5, followed by the well-seasoned Primetime on July 19th, playing a mixture of party tunes. The blues and funk of the Kathy Thompson Band takes center stage on July 26.
August 2 will bring newcomers like Tim Currie’s Motown Review, a 13-member band with covers of Motown favorites, and, on August 23, Le Mixx, a New Haven-based band with 30 years of experience in playing entertaining dance covers like “Uptown Funk” and “Tell me Something Good.”
According to Terenzio, past concerts typically draw anywhere from 300-800 people each week, with the final concert of 2014 drawing thousands. “It’s something in the community that people can look forward to. They can go to the beach for the day and pack a picnic, sit under the pavilion, and listen to some music they’re familiar with,” she says.
Walnut Beach Association president Joe Garbus, says the free summer concerts have become a much-anticipated event by area locals.
“Offering the free summer concerts was a good way to become more of a community,…“With the pavilion, pier, and boardwalk, we’ve got great bones for hosting concerts here.”
—Makayla Silva
