Saturday’s Twin Festivals — Hot during daytime hours, rockin’ at night

By LENNY C. LEPOLA

News Assis­tant Man­ag­ing Editor

Saturday’s twin fes­ti­vals, Sun­bury Siz­zle & Sounds and Galena Sum­mer­fest, both had excel­lent atten­dance accord­ing to each event’s orga­niz­ers. A lit­tle hot in the after­noon, said Summerfest’s orga­nizer Jane White, but atten­dance picked up as the tem­per­a­ture cooled down and head­line bands took to the stage.

Siz­zle & Sounds orga­nizer Theresa Drons­field agreed with White that day­time heat kept the atten­dance lighter dur­ing the after­noon hours, but said the evening crowd exceeded her expectations.

“We wel­comed back many of our favorites this year and the crowd really got involved,” Drons­field said. “The 1000 Julys, a last-minute band added to the sched­ule, really bridged the gen­er­a­tion gap and brought every­one to their feet; and with so many more food ven­dor choices this year, the lines moved fast and there was some­thing for everyone.”

Drons­field said the loca­tion move and expan­sion of the Siz­zle & Sounds’ Kids Zone ben­e­fited from the early day shade for par­ents to relax in while chil­dren enjoyed the youth-oriented fes­tiv­i­ties; and the new lay­out of the square and place­ment of the main stage allowed patrons in the beer gar­den as well as other fam­ily and friends a bet­ter view of the stage.

“Trans­porta­tion, once again, was shared between the two fes­ti­vals, but even with the addi­tion of two pas­sen­ger vans, the trol­ley main­tained its pop­u­lar­ity,” Drons­field said. “We thank the Vil­lage of Sun­bury for ral­ly­ing behind the com­mit­tee to make the 2012 Sun­bury Siz­zle & Sounds Fes­ti­val a suc­cess. Plan­ning for the 2013 fes­ti­val will begin over the next few weeks.”

White said Galena Sum­mer­fest atten­dance the same as 2011 – about 8,000; and that one of the high­lights of 2012 Sum­mer­fest was the expanded Kids Zone.

“PePe, the Kroger mas­cot, was able to make a few appear­ances to hug, high five and min­gle with chil­dren of all ages, even though pen­guins don’t like that kind of heat,” White said. “On the main stage on Vil­lage Square we had an out­stand­ing band lineup. Ray Fuller and the Blues­rock­ers kicked off our enter­tain­ment with amaz­ing gui­tar work by Ray, stir­ring and rau­cous key­boards by Keith Blair, and a ter­rific drum solo by Mark Ward.”

White said Fuller was fol­lowed by Miss Lissa & Com­pany, fea­tur­ing Lissa’s throaty, bluesy voice

“As the evening started to cool off, the very hot Hur­ri­cane Jerry & Storm­front took the stage with the leg­endary Gene ‘Sax­man’ Walker’,” White said. “Every­one was treated to an amaz­ing stage show, and Sean Car­ney even joined Jerry, Gene and the band for a few songs.

“The Sean Car­ney Band head­lined the evening and Gene Walker hung around to share his tal­ents through the night,” White con­tin­ued. “Sean and the band were ready to leave the stage but the crowd was chant­ing for more, so we were treated to on encore on the square.”

White said when the Sean Car­ney Band fin­ished play­ing on the out­door main stage the band went inside Mud­flats Bar & Grill for an evening finale.

“Both fes­ti­vals had a great day fea­tur­ing many great ven­dors and thou­sands of par­tic­i­pants,” White said. “We give a very heart­felt thanks to all of our vol­un­teers and our two com­mu­ni­ties for their support.”

Posted by Gary Henery on Aug 29 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.