On Saturday evening, The Tipp City Area Arts Council weclomed lovers of music from all around to Tipp City’s City Park to enjoy a great evening of FREE entertainment. The organization sponsored Ticket to Ride, a Beatles cover band to perform for the community. Local talent Mike Rousculp performed with the band as Paul McCartney. Dressed in their gray suits, Ticket to Ride first performed the songs that made up the early discography of the Beatles with tunes such as “I Wanna Hold Your Hand“, “Help!‘ and “A Hard Day’s Night“. After the brief intermission the crowd that swelled to 2,000 strong was treated to the band’s costume change into the Beatle’s colorful Sgt. Pepper outfits. Ticket to Ride then performed a second 50 minute set that featured songs from the late Beatles era with “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band“, “Yellow Submarine” and “Come Together“.
The Venue
Tipp City’s City Park has served as the community’s entertainment center for decades, featuring the High School football stadium, Aquatic Center, basketball court, picnic shelters and “The Roundhouse”. On Saturday evening the venue was transformed into the largest outdoor musical performance in Tipp City’s recent history.
Making Things Happen
Over the past 5 years, several community organizations have made it their charter to “make things happen” within Tipp City’s downtown shopping and entertainment district. The second annual Canal MusicFest was no exception. The Tipp City Area Arts Council served as the primary organization that financed and organized the event. Supporting organizations included the Downtown Tipp City Partnership, The Tipp Foundation, Tipp Monroe Community Services, Proforma Marketing and Bash Foo.
Jennifer “JJ” Slanker, event organizer for the Arts Council shared that she was very pleased with the attendance and all of the activity that the event brought to the downtown. “This is fantastic, a much better turnout than expected,” shared Slanker.
Two Food Vendors “Blown Away”
Harrisons and Fox’s Pizza were the two food vendors for the event, with both of them becoming overwhelmed by demand with the crowd that swelled to over 2,000 during the course of the musical performance. Harrisons reported running out of sausage sandwiches about 10 minutes after the announcement that they had them over the PA. Josh Rowe, owner of Fox’s Pizza said he had to “call in the reinforcements” to help serve the crowd.
Beer Garden a Hit
As a new feature this year, the Arts Council lobbied City Council for permission to sell beer during MusicFest. Council approved the temporary use permit unanimously, allowing the Arts Council and Downtown Tipp City Partnership it’s only pre-planned funding for the event. The Arts Council was pleased to find that at the end of the 2 1/2 hour event all 7 kegs that were delivered by the distributor were empty.
Plans for Next Year
The big talk both during and after MusicFest was about having more of such performances next year. Talk of inviting a Rolling Stones and even an Eagles cover band to MusicFest was bandied about. From the best I can tell, with the success of this event, advertisers will be leaping in next year with both feet. In a facebook post from JJ Slanker this morning she thanked all those who helped in the multi-day setup and teardown for the event, as well as all of those that gave of their time and talents to the promotion of Canal MusicFest.
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