Rotary, city in harmony on band shell for City Park

Published 6:43 am Monday, March 3, 2008

Harmonizing on the building of a permanent band shell for the performing arts in City Park on Third Avenue are the city of Edmonds and the Edmonds Rotary Daybreakers Club.

The shell, which will be electrified and covered, is designed to accommodate concerts, plays, dance performances and even weddings, according to the Daybreakers.

With its lighting capability and concrete floor that doesn’t require set-up and breakdown before every event, the venue is likely to attract more and more varied productions to the park, said Brian McIntosh, parks director, who envisions audiences enjoying shows like “Shakespeare in the park.”

The band shell will be nestled in the embankment of the existing baseball diamond’s first-base “foul territory”, northeast of the gazebo, according to McIntosh.

The foundation pad is expected to be poured next September and construction completed by June of 2006. Permit requests have been submitted to the city.

The project, which spent nearly two years in the research and design stages, is the Daybreakers’ centennial project that commemorates the international organization’s 100th birthday.

Club members considered and rejected several possible projects, finally choosing one that reflects the club’s interest in music, said Ron Keimer, fund-raising chairman.

Edmonds City Council accepted the proposed improvement in 2003.

Such an enhancement has been on the park department’s master plan for some time, McIntosh said.

A recent infusion of $15,000 through the Starbucks Neighborhood Parks Grant Program brought the club closer to the approximately $60,000 needed to build the shell.

The project was one of 30 from throughout King, Snohomish and Pierce counties to receive a Starbucks grant in an awards ceremony held June 4 in Seattle.

A grant by the local Hubbard Foundation; in-kind and monetary donations from Daybreakers; and help from the city with drainage work, running utilities and building a path to the site also will help cover costs.

Design and engineering work on the shell were donated by Rotarians Jim Crim, a mechanical engineer, and Ed Baker, a structural engineer.

The structure will measure about 36 feet by 27 feet and have a ceiling height of 18 feet.

Both the Rotary and the city weighed in on the acoustics, which were designed to return sound to the audience area and not the surrounding neighborhood, explained Keimer.

McIntosh said he has received no complaints about the proposed band shell from neighbors around City Park. They seem to enjoy concerts in the park, he added, and will benefit from the sound control provided by the shell.