Dorr Township next year may join the growing popularity of local evening music summer concerts.
The Township Board Thursday evening was approached by Patty Williams of the Williams Family Band, who does a lot of promotion and planning for family-style concerts. She proposed having Wednesday evening “Sounds of Summer” concerts at South Park throughout July and into a couple of weeks in August. She said the events would include quality rock, gospel, bluegrass, country, folk, jazz and blues ensembles performing one to two hours free of charge.
She said other such events have been held in nearby communities, sometimes drawing as many as a couple thousand people. Wayland, for example, has Concerts in the Park on four consecutive Friday evenings in August.
Williams said the biggest hurdle would finding sponsorship and she promised to visit the Township Board again in February.
In other business Thursday, the board:
- Began discussions about the possibility of expanding the township hall by 1,600 square feet to better handle growing staff and responsibilities. Supervisor Jeff Miling said there have been discussions over the last several years about the crowded conditions for officials to conduct business and the fire department and emergency services personnel could use more space. Miling estimated such expansion would cost about $900,000. A drive-up window for disabled senior citizen motorists may be part of the plans, which will be discussed further Dec. 14.
- Learned from Fire Chief Gary Fordham that the local department is considering getting more involved in providing emergency medical services. “I know that daytimes this would be tough, but I still want to make this work. I want to do this without burning anybody out.”
- Was told by representatives of the Dorr Business Association that prospects are looking good for the “Christmas in the Park” celebration Saturday afternoon and evening at South Park.
- Learned from Library Director Jeff Babbitt that Luke Lenhart and the Green Valley Boys will perform Christmas selections at the library later next month. He added that there is a vacancy on the Library Board, which had to cancel its next regular meeting because of a lack of a quorum.
- Agreed to move the Dec. 21 scheduled board meeting to Dec. 14 in order to accommodate several members attending the Gun Lake Casino’s revenue sharing board meeting, where revenue sharing checks are presented.
