L.A. SummerFest Proves Festive on First Weekend
Rumors LA SummerFest was closed due to the Sage fire were dispelled by a hearty band of faithful SummerFest patrons and a lineup of talented performers.
About two dozen patrons, each in his or her own lawn chair, ignored the rumors of park closure Sunday as the annual summer concert series kicked off with vigorous applause at the Rivendale Open Space and Park site in Towsley Canyon.
“Great to have you here,” Men of Harmony singer Ray Johnson told the sparse audience. “Because everybody said the park was closed.”
And, as the popular local choir left the stage for the next performer, singer Jack Madson grabbed the microphone.
“Text all your friends and tell them the park is closed and we’re all trespassing,” he said, to applause and laughter.
Sunday’s concert dubbed Americana Fest featured the Men of Harmony and “two-thirds” of the group Women on the Move Trish Lester and Linda Geleris, plus headlining act Whiskey Sunday.
David Stears, founder and executive director of Shakespeare in the Park which runs July 23, 24, 30 and 31, then on August 12 and 14 - said he “lost” two or three venders Sunday who told him they thought the park was closed because of the Sage fire.
The Greasy Wiener food truck was on hand at the concert as its sole vendor.
LA SummerFest is the “outgrowth,” Stears said, of the Shakespeare in the Park series.
“So I’ve been telling everybody, ‘Just so you know, we’re not closed,’” Stears said.
The Sage fire, which broke out a week ago, burned more than 1,100 acres of rugged land in Stevenson Ranch and Newhall.
SummerFest patrons such as Susan Hinshaw, Theatre Department chairwoman at College of the Canyons, expected a concert experience enveloped in campfire smoke due to the charred acreage seen from the SummerFest stage area. They were, however, pleasantly surprised to find a cool evening with just a faint aroma of burned wood.
“I was at the event Friday, so I knew it wasn’t closed,” Hinshaw said, referring to the induction of COC Chancellor Dianne G. Van Hook into the Court of the Lord Chamberlain Friday, the opening night of the 2016 LA SummerFest at Rivendale Park and Open Space.