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Concerts By The Bay Underway Until Aug. 27

Penny Rocker, Executive Director • Press Release

PERTH AMBOY – The Garden State Symphonic Band, under the direction of Chris Pedersen, will once again perform a series of Sunday afternoon, free to the public, outdoor band concerts at Bayview Park in Perth Amboy.  The newly renovated scenic little park is located on Water Street at the foot of Market Street and sits on a bluff overlooking the Arthur Kill, Staten Island and the Raritan Bay.

This Sunday’s concert will present an eclectic selection of music by John Philip Sousa, Irving Berlin, Ferde Grofe, Leroy Anderson & others.  Baritone, Rick Bossman, will perform “God Bless America,” “That Lucky Old Sun,” “This Is My Country,” and “Sixteen Tons.”

Subsequent concerts will each feature a different vocalist and a complete program of music drawn from the music drawn from some of the greatest composers.

The weekly concerts take place from 3:00 till 5:00 P.M. every Sunday, rain or shine, from July 9 through August 27. As permanent seating at Bayview Park is limited, concert goers are advised to bring lawn chairs or blankets.   While the normal setting for the concerts is Bayview Park, inclement weather (temperatures over 88 degrees, or rain) will cause the concert being moved to the air conditioned Wilentz School, 51, 1st Street, Perth Amboy.

These concerts, a continuation of more than a 50-year tradition, are sponsored by Concerts by the Bay, Inc. which is made up of a group of civic-minded music lovers who devote much of their time, totally without pay, to raising the funds needed to present these concerts.  Each concert costs between $7,000 and $8,000.

While some of the necessary funding is provided by the Music Performance Funds, the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders, the Perth Amboy Office of Community Development, and a few corporate benefactors, Concerts by the Bay has had to rely to a greater degree for the past several years on individual contributors.  With much of local management and control of area banks and industry having been lost due to their merging with larger organizations, much of the major funding for these concerts has completely disappeared or been drastically reduced.

Music lovers who would like to help support this project and ensure the full 8 – 10 concert season, may send contributions to:  Concerts By The Bay, Inc. (a non-profit corporation), c/o Dr. J. Santamaria, III, Chairman, 104 Market Street, Perth Amboy, NJ 08861.

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