Bad year for summer concerts
Weather, low attendance leads to down year for Wednesday Night Live, Alive@Five series
STAMFORD — Anthony Nargi was told his new pizzeria in Columbus Park would be a hit for the city’s downtown summer music series, as concertgoers would likely come in droves to pick up a slice or two to take outside.
“Everyone was telling us, ‘You’re going to kill it,’ ” said Nargi, who owns Piezano’s on Main Street and also runs Remo’s on Bedford Street.
Instead, he said, bad weather and low attendance combined to kill any chance of a banner day.
“The whole season hasn’t been good at all,” said Nargi on Tuesday, echoing similar sentiments from other business owners near the park.
The concert series, which is comprised of five straight weeks of outdoor shows on Wednesday and Thursday, titled Wednesday Night Live and Alive@Five, respectively, is run by the Stamford Downtown Special Services District.
Rain and thunderstorms forced two of the Wednesday concerts this summer to be canceled, and resulted in two other shows, headlined by 98 Degrees and Chubby Checker, to be moved indoors to the Palace Theatre.
Sandy Goldstein, president of DSSD, said this has been the first unsuccessful season for the concerts, which this year brought in artists like TPain, Shaggy and Lance Bass of NSYNC.
Goldstein said the organization lost money this season, because of the weather conditions. It costs DSSD $750,000 to produce the shows. On Friday, the day after the summer series concluded, Goldstein was uncertain how much of a hit DSSD had taken.
“It has been a very trying and difficult season for those of us who produce the concerts,” she said. “We did not make a dime. We lost a lot of money.”
But even when the weather was fine, some of the concerts didn’t bring the kind of attention that restaurants were hoping for.
The Thursday show headlined by Travie McCoy, for instance, brought in about 2,500 people. Goldstein said Alive@Five, which has a $20 entrance fee and only allows people 21 years of age or older, has an average attendance of around 4,000 people.
For Nargi, low attendance has a trickledown effect on his business.
In preparation for a potentially busy Thursday, he must get extra staff lined up as well as buy and prepare extra food. When a show is canceled, he has to let the extra staff go home early, and the extra food could potentially end up in the garbage.
“It’s a lossloss,” he said. The concert series has also presented issues for businesses in the park who don’t sell food or drinks, and even for one resident who had a frustrating Thursday night.
Steve Ryan wanted to leave his apartment on Main Street during one of the Thursday night shows but was stopped by a security officer at the entrance to his building.
Ryan wanted to cross the park to get to Acuario to have dinner, which he does multiple times a week. He had a pass from DSSD that was designed to let him enter and exit the concerts since he’s a resident. But, the officer didn’t allow the 68yearold Ryan to leave his home, and he was told he had to exit through the back of the building and go to the concert’s main entrance to gain access.
For Ryan, that meant walking down his fire escape, which would not be a major obstacle for many people but represented a serious challenge for him. While Ryan doesn’t have mobility issues, he does suffer from essential tremor, a genetic condition he’s had since he was a teenager which causes his hands to shake.
He described the ladder behind his building as “pretty rickety.”
“I really only have any interest in taking it if there’s an actual fire,” he said.
The trip down the fire escape was a precarious one.
“I had to go step by step, just very careful, holding onto both railings,” he said. “My balance isn’t what it used to be, so I get very concerned.”
He got down eventually, and had to walk to Atlantic Street to get to the only entrance for Alive@Five and stand in line. His pass was honored, and Ryan was finally able to get to Acuario after the whole ordeal.
“I think it’s insane,” he said.