Free summer concerts return to West Salem Park for 40th anniversary
Cecilia Urbani used to bring her baby to West Salem Park to enjoy free music on summer evenings.
With her daughter now 35, Urbani is more likely to be found working the concession stand at the July shows as a volunteer for the West Salem Lions.
But every year without fail, another woman who’s been attending the shows for decades asks about her family.
“She comes up to me, comes up to the concession stand and gets her hot dog like she does every single year and she says, ‘How is your baby?’” Urbani said.
To her, it’s a testament to the community’s excitement about the longtime summer tradition.
The West Salem Lions Club is celebrating four decades of free summer music in the park as their annual concert series returns this week for four Thursdays in July.
See a concert
All concerts are held Thursdays at West Salem Park, 351 Rosemont Ave. N.W., from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
July 10 – Salem Big Band (swing & jazz)
July 17 – Ty Curtis Band (blues & rock)
July 24 – Gail Gage Jazz Band (cool jazz)
July 31 – Roundhouse Band (bluegrass, folk & southern rock)
The concerts are organized by the Lions Club, with about $8,000 in annual costs for insurance, the bands and other supplies covered by sponsors, including Salem Electric.
Volunteers donate the equivalent of about $9,000 in work hours to make the events happen.
When the summer concerts started 40 years ago, the city of Salem put them on in West Salem and other neighborhood parks. Budget cuts following the passage of property tax limitations in the 1990s meant the city no longer had the money to do it, Urbani said. The Lions Club took the concerts on.
“It was a community thing, everybody came to the table and contributed their best that they had to give,” she said.
Other Salem parks weren’t so lucky and lost their summer shows.
Urbani said her favorite part of the series is seeing kids enjoying themselves in the park, asking for snow cones from the concession stand and dancing to the music.
The club constructed a stage in the park years ago to facilitate concerts. Its layout serves as a natural amphitheater, and people are welcome to buy concessions or bring their own picnics.
The park also features a splash pad and playground for kids who don’t want to sit still for the entire show.
Ty Curtis, a regular performer who’s slated for July 17, has a cordless guitar so he can roam the crowd while playing.
And the park has mature trees offering natural shade along with plenty of open space.
“It’s in my opinion just perfect,” Urbani said.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers education, economic development and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for over a decade and is a past president of Oregon's Society of Professional Journalists chapter. Outside of work, you can often find her gardening or with her nose buried in a book.
