By GINA KINSLOW
Glasgow Daily Times
GLASGOW
July 02, 2009 12:58 pm
—
The Louisville Orchestra will perform in concert Friday in downtown Glasgow in front of city hall.
The concert is set to get under way at 7 p.m. and will feature a combination of classical and patriotic music.
This year marks the 10th year for a concert to be conducted prior to the Fourth of July and the sixth time the Louisville Orchestra has performed in Glasgow.
“Having the Louisville Orchestra perform in Glasgow is one of the greatest events to take place in this community,” said Ann Stewart, marketing director for the Glasgow-Barren County Chamber of Commerce. “It’s just so much fun! I’ve served on the concert committee since its beginning in 1999 and it’s exciting to watch the crowd grow from year to year — families being together to celebrate the birthday of our nation.”
Various food vendors will be available in front of the Barren County Courthouse beginning at 5:30 p.m.
A limited number of chairs will be provided, but concert-goers are encouraged to bring blankets and lawn chairs for seating on the courthouse lawn.
“You may bring your own picnic supper, but do not bring glass containers,” Stewart said.
Setup for the concert will begin Friday morning, so traffic access to portions of the downtown area will be limited.
“The west side of the square, Race Street, will remain open all day,” she said. “Parking on the east side (Green Street) will be closed beginning at 8 a.m. The east side will close to traffic at noon. Parking on the south side (Washington Street) will be closed beginning at 1 p.m. The south side will close to traffic at 3 p.m. The north side (Main Street) will close to traffic at 5 p.m.”
Glasgow is not the only town in Kentucky where the Louisville Orchestra performs.
“We do quite a few,” said Toni Robinson, director of operations for the orchestra.
The orchestra has traveled to Elizabethtown and Bardstown for concerts, she said.
“There’s a couple of different places we’ve been,” Robinson said.
Traveling to other cities across the state, reaching out to other communities, is part of the orchestra’s mission to share its product, she said.
“I think most importantly a lot of smaller communities may not have the opportunity to see a professional orchestra,” Robinson said. “It’s a way to share that culture with other communities.”
The original idea behind the concert was to bring a world-class orchestra to the community, said Tommy Lyons, chairman of the Glasgow-Barren County Community Foundation’s concert committee.
“With Louisville being the closest, we chose them to start with and they have proven year after year they are a great orchestra and the crowds we have had have shown the people of this area are appreciative of great music,” he said. “What we’ve asked the orchestra to do each year is to play recognizeable classics as well as patriotic music as a great way to kick off the Fourth of July.”
The concert was canceled one year because of problems the orchestra expected, and two have been delayed due to weather.
“One year we invited the Nashville Orchestra up,” he said. “We may do that again some day.”
The committee had a budget of $24,400 this year to fund the concert.
“We are going to fall a little short this year because the tourism board cut our funds in half from what we’ve had in the past,” he said.
The shortfall amounted to $2,000.
“Fortunately, we built up a little reserve. We will be able to dip into that reserve,” Lyons said.
The concert is funded by donations, he said.
“There are other activities that may come in the future that are supported by the foundation,” Lyons said. “We’re studying different things and we have the ability to fund most any activity and we decide what those activities should be. Right now some of the arts activities have been supported through the foundation, such as the mural project.”
The mural project Lyons referred to is just that — a project created to beautify Glasgow with murals painted by area artists.
“We don’t do enough of this,” he said. “We need more support from people who could help do this financially. We’ve got our group of sponsors, which is about 15 now, including the city and the county. We want people to step forward and offer to do this rather than requiring us to go out and raise the money.”
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