By: Adam Rollins, Staff Writer
Update 1:45 p.m. 6/19/2020:
The Wright City Parks Department announced today that it will not host the park concert scheduled for this evening at Diekroeger Park. The parks department made the announcement via its Facebook page.
"There was not enough time to make the cecessary precautions needed in the short time we had, since the announcement wasn't made until Thursday that we were opening the parks," the department said. "We are moving forward with the next scheduled concert in July."
Original story:
The Concerts in the Park series got a late start this year, but local towns are reopening their parks to the music and inviting residents to attend — at a safe distance from one another.
Concerts in the Park brings small bands from the greater St. Louis region to perform free-to-attend events at parks in Warren County. Local cities chose to cancel the shows in May due to COVID-19.
The first concert of the year was the evening of June 12 at Dyer Park in Warrenton. Alderman Mike Shilharvey welcomed several dozen attendees spaced in groups around the park, saying he was enthusiastic to resume the events. Shilharvey is one of the coordinators who works with the Warren County Fine Arts Council to schedule the concerts.
Before the concert could be held, city officials on June 2 debated what safety measures were necessary due to lingering caution over COVID-19.
Warrenton Mayor Eric Schleuter expressed cautious optimism because the case count in Warren County has remained relatively low.
“I’m kind of ready for this to go. I think there’s a lot of people in our community who are ready,” Schleuter said. “Not fully open, but let’s get some stuff going that’s active and allowing them to get out a little more.”
Warrenton’s Board of Aldermen agreed, voting 6-0 to resume the concerts and saying they were confident social distancing could be maintained.
Aldermen had previously debated whether they should mark areas where groups should sit to remain properly distant from one another. That proposal was left out of the final discussion. Park staff went ahead and marked seating areas in front of the music pavilion at Dyer Park, but concert-goers largely ignored those in favor of spacing themselves out around the edge of the park.
Aldermen also voted to reopen the bathroom at Dyer Park for the duration of the concert. The city’s park bathrooms have been closed since March due to vandals seeking to steal toilet paper. Aldermen asked the city administration to assign a staff member to monitor and clean the restrooms during the event.
In Wright City, aldermen signaled approval for opening the pavilion at Diekroeger Park for the concerts, but held back pending final consultation with state and county officials.
“It’s outdoors. I don’t see why we wouldn’t be able to,” said Wright City Parks Director Josh Cole.
The first concert in Wright City is scheduled for June 19. Mayor Dan Rowden on Tuesday said the concert will most likely take place, and that city officials would make a final confirmation this week.
Marthasville is the other main concert venue for the music series. Aldermen there were undecided on reopening their park pavilions when last they met in May. A June 19 concert in that town was canceled by the Marthasville Chamber of Commerce, which is the local partner organization for the concerts. The Chamber said it is waiting for final approval from city aldermen, who postponed their regularly scheduled meeting June 17.
