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By Jennifer Bowman
One rainy day in August of 2007, musician Ken Stapley challenged his audience to find a way to get a new bandstand at Zwick’s Park in Belleville.
The night before, Stapley’s concert had been cancelled because of rain, and he’d been worried that day’s concert would be cancelled as well. The second concert wasn’t cancelled, but he approached the crowd about sending letters to the new council members to get a bandstand with a roof.
The challenge landed back in his own lap.
“During the break, probably about 30 people came up to me and said, ‘Why don’t you do something about it?’” said Stapley. “So I said over the microphone that afternoon, ‘Folks, I’ll give it a try.’”
That night he drew up a plan. He took it to an architect the next day. A year later, he presented it to the Belleville council.
Council gave it the official approval in January, 2009. They started building in December, 2010. Now it’s right on schedule for the grand opening on June 12 for the Show and Shine Car Show.
The major construction is finished, the floors are going to be poured, and things are moving along very quickly on site, said Mark Fluhrer, parks, recreation & culture director of Belleville.
The pavilion is replacing an old 1967 structure. The initial idea was to enhance the building by putting a roof on top. Then came the opportunity to get government funding.
They sat down and in a very short time had a package to present to the Recreational Infrastructure Canada program to get funding for a more elaborate building, said Fluhrer.
The new pavilion will seat between 400 and 500 people. It will be used along with the smaller pavilions in the park for events like Canada Day. It will also hold its own events.
The pavilion isn’t exactly what the committee had envisioned, but he thinks it’s going to be great, said John Henderson, who is also on the committee and has emceed many events at the band shelter.
They had envisioned the pavilion facing east, the same direction as the old band shelter. That would have provided protection from the wind as well as allowed people to sit on the hill during concerts.
The intent was that we’d be able to have daily events that could bring family and friends together at the pavilion, said Stapley.
That’s what Fluhrer envisions for the pavilion’s future.
“Its main focus is community events and programs. It has a bit of a regional feel to it, in other words, cultural events,” said Fluhrer.
That includes things like musical performances, theatre, public speaking, rallies, faith events, weddings, and an endless number of community events.
For Stapley, pushing for a new bandstand was for the community, but it was also for his followers.
“I’ve got a lot of people that I did this for,” said Stapley. “They’re my concert goers that have been following my concerts since, I’ve probably been performing there since, I think it was ’73.”
He will be playing for his fans at the grand opening.
The Frank Howard Orchestra will also be playing that day. They played at the opening of the original band shelter in 1967. The committee is also trying to bring all the original members of one of the rock groups who played at the original opening.