FRAZE PAVILION TARGETING JULY 1 OPENING, RECRUITING
Kettering venue targets July 1 to start delivering on 2021 season.
KETTERING — The Fraze Pavilion is targeting a July 1 opening and is recruiting to fill seasonal jobs.
Details on events and services planned will be dependent on state-mandated COVID-19 protocols, Kettering Parks Recreation and Cultural Arts Director May Beth O’Dell told the Dayton Daily News on Wednesday.
But plans are moving forward with a 2021 season at the cityowned 4,300-seat outdoor venue, she said.
“We think we’re cautiously optimistic about how we can approach it,” O’Dell said.
“I think a lot of the options that we have available will still provide us with an opportunity to deliver a season in 2021. But what that looks like right now it is virtually impossible to clearly identify,” she added.
Kettering hopes to have a better idea of Fraze plans by April 30, O’Dell said. Meanwhile, it is moving ahead with plans to fill seasonal jobs.
Traditionally, those jobs include about 250 positions, all but a few part-time, she said.
Kettering canceled the 2020 season last May, along with other popular summer activities last May due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Since opening in the early 1990s, the Fraze has annually hosted a variety of concerts, and the city has held free festival and events at Lincoln Park Civic Commons next door.
The area near the Kettering Government Center is a centerpiece for summertime entertainment and is among the reasons the city is “home to summer fun,” Mayor Don Patterson said.
Kettering’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department accounted for
$11.7 million – or slightly more than 20% - of the 2020 budget approved by city council, records show.
Recreation in Kettering is something “we treat it almost as a core service as it relates
to the quality of life,” City Manager Mark Schwieterman has said.