Music Onthe42 gets go-ahead for 2023

By Mark Ribble

At their December 13 meeting, Leamington Council approved $100,000 to enter into an agreement with The Bank Theatre and Sun Parlour Players to secure four concerts for the 2023 Music Onthe42 Summer Concert Series at Seacliff Park.

The decision comes ahead of annual budget deliberations, which will take place in the coming weeks.

Normally, budget talks would have been held in December, but municipal law does not allow for that during an election year.

Manager of Recreation Terry Symons came to the meeting to ask if council would approve the concert costs early. This allows the procurement of better acts at more reasonable prices, according to Symons.

The plan is to hold four free-to-the-public concert nights throughout the summer of 2023.

Councillor Paul Tiessen was reluctant to earmark $100,000 prior to budget talks and asked if it would be prudent to wait until budget time.

“I’m not sure I’m ready to budget $100,000 at this time,” said Tiessen. “Until I see the whole budget, it’s hard to support $100,000.”

Councillor Anthony Abraham also said he was “50-50” on the issue and asked about perhaps charging a small fee to enter the concerts to recoup some of the funding.

“I don’t think it would be harmful to collect a small stipend,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be big and may be a drop in the bucket but it’s a drop, nonetheless.”

Both Tiessen and Abraham agreed that the concerts are important to the community, but wondered if there were ways to save money at budget time on this issue.

Councillors Tim Wilkinson and Heather Latam both agreed that these concerts are important for the community and expressed that it’s something they’re not prepared to do without.

“I want to keep the amphitheatre hopping. We built that with intentions of having a very busy Seacliff Park and waterfront experience,” said Wilkinson. “I hear you where you’re going with that Councillor Tiessen and I respect it, but there are some qualities of life here that I hate to forego, like those.”

“I think $100,000 is reasonable and I think the sooner the better that they can get these concerts booked — the better options we’ll have,” added Latam. “We all heard throughout the summer and fall how important community is, how important arts are and how important coming together is.”

Mayor Hilda MacDonald spoke about the concerts and said that having ticketed concerts is not an option, in her mind.

Fencing rentals and extra personnel costs would “eat up” any proceeds from tickets.

She also said that families of five or six would not be willing to buy that many tickets.

“A family of six at $10 a head is $60, which is a chunk of groceries,” she said. “We’re trying to al- low everyone — doesn’t matter the economic demographic — to be able to attend.” MacDonald indicated that candidates heard during the election campaign that the community wanted more invested in arts and culture and she said that they get a lot of positive feedback from families who can spend the evening there without breaking the bank.

After the discussion, the issue was put to a vote and passed.

The $100,000 agreement with The Bank Theatre to produce the four concerts is the same as the 2022 cost, which was included in the 2022 budget.

Mary Newland performs at the Canada Day concert at Seacliff Park’s Sunset Amphitheatre in 2022. Newland’s Blue Bayou Band performed hits from the 1970s including many Linda Ronstadt tunes. It was part of the Music Onthe42 concert series. Leaminggton Council has voted to hold four concerts again in 2023. SUN photo