Between 6,000 and 9,000 people have attended Scarborough’s annual Concerts in the Park series in recent years. Contributed / Scarborough Community Chamber of Commerce
The annual Concerts in the Park series, hosted by the Scarborough Community Chamber of Commerce, will kick off later this month.
Thousands of people from across southern Maine attend the free six-show concert series each year – but it hasn’t always been that way.
“The chamber started putting on concerts 25 years ago on the lawn of the library,” Art Dillon, chair of the Concerts in the Park Committee, told the Leader this week. “It was just four shows and, when attendance was 30 or 40 people, it was a big success.”
After a few years, the concerts were moved to Memorial Park and attendance grew to about 300 people per show. Organizers “were ecstatic,” Dillon said.
Now a total of 6,000 to 9,000 people attend the series each year.
The 25th annual Concerts in the Park series, running weekly from June 27 to Aug. 1, will be Dillon’s 20th.
“I volunteered to flip burgers and one thing led to another and I got put in charge,” he said with a laugh.
The early concerts would have four sponsors, one per show. Now, over 50 organizations and local businesses sponsor the series each year.
Michelle Raber, a longtime chamber board member and volunteer, said Concerts in the Park has become the chamber’s largest annual fundraising event.
“More importantly, it’s just that community summer event where we can bring people together and listen to music,” Raber said. “It helps highlight those things and small businesses that help make the event possible.”
Plus, it’s not just Scarborough residents who attend.
“We do a survey sometimes to see where people are coming from,” Raber said. “People will drive up from Kennebunk, they’ll drive from Yarmouth. It’s a great way to spend a Thursday night.”
Raber and Dillon credited Scarborough Community Services for their help in hosting the series at Memorial Park and providing volunteers to help with duties such as traffic control, in addition to several other organizations who volunteer their services.
The concert series has also grown beyond attendance and sponsors, Dillon said. There’s a 50/50 raffle for the chamber’s high school scholarship fund, award grants to community organizations and businesses at each show, and concession stands.
While there are plenty of helping hands, Raber emphasized Dillon’s role in making the Concerts in the Park series what it is today.
“This is his passion project. He is the driving force,” Raber said. “It’s really quite a legacy he’s created.”
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