ST. MARYS, OHIO -- A local group wants to give St. Marys the blues.
The K.C. Geiger Park Maintenance and Improvement Committee appeared before the St. Marys City Council at the Monday, August 28, 2006, meeting with a proposal for an ambitious project. The group intends to hold a yearly blues festival at K. C. Geiger Park on Labor Day weekend, beginning in 2007.
Dubbed the "Riverside Bluesfest," the event would raise money for the K. C. Geiger Park Fund. The proposal as presented to Council plans to attract 2,500 to 5,000 blues fans to a place inside the park the Committee calls "Riverside," located at the bottom of the park sledding hill, near the St. Marys River.
"We want to promote more use of the Park in its 'off-season,' after summer baseball has ended," explained Committee Treasurer Dave Stilwell. "At the same time, a couple of us are blues fans and we have been toying with the idea of an outdoor concert at the park for quite a while. By promoting this as an annual fund-raiser, we can address several goals in one project."
City approval is of course necessary to use the municipally-owned park, as well as for a temporary liquor license application. Many details about the festival, which is still a year away, have yet to be worked out, including which blues acts will appear and how much tickets will cost. One thing that is known now is the proposed date: Saturday, September 1, 2007.
"We plan to advertise the Bluesfest over a 50-mile radius around St. Marys," Committee President Rees McKee said. "For this to succeed, we have to attract people from out of town. If we do, the Bluesfest will benefit the whole community, every Labor Day weekend."
The group plans to use funds raised by the Bluesfest for capital improvements to K.C. Geiger Park, including eventually constructing a permanent stage and amphitheater for future Bluesfests and other community events.
Interested people can check out the Bluesfest web site at www.stmarysblues.com, which also provides contact information for fans, sponsors, vendors and blues acts.
"We've been seriously working on this project since May," said Chris Botkin, Committee Secretary. "In that time, we have met with a lot of key people and we have a good feel for what we are up against. Almost everybody likes the idea, but there are a lot of details to be worked out."
The Committee
Since 1992, the K.C. Geiger Park Maintenance and Improvement Committee has existed solely to strive to provide for the perpetual maintenance and improvement of K.C. Geiger Park. The Committee is an all-volunteer, 501.c3 charitable organization. The proceeds of the Committee's many fund-raising efforts over the years (including the popular annual Summerfest Duck Race) benefit the K.C. Geiger Park Improvement Fund, which is administrated by the St. Marys Community Foundation.
By annual agreement with the City of St. Marys, the Committee manages the Park concession stands. The Committee is responsible for mowing all Park baseball, softball and soccer fields during the spring and summer mowing seasons. The Committee has spent more than $85,000 over its existence, to fund various park maintenance and improvement projects.
