The 'dream' continues Sackets Waterfront concerts note 25th year with a lively program

SACKETS HARBOR — It's been 25 years since the Concerts on the Waterfront Series in this village began with a dream. Luckily, organizers were more than just dreamers.

"We in the historical society were dreamers — and doers," said series co-chairwoman Mary Jo Deans.

The Sackets Harbor Historical Society's board of directors thought of the idea for the series at the dawn of the village's revitalization. Mrs. Deans is the sole member of the society who has worked at the series since its beginning in 1985.

She said the idea for the series came from a former board member who has since moved out of the area.

"He had seen outdoor afternoon concerts revitalize communities. At that time, Sackets was just starting to recognize its own potential," she said.

In the first two years, only three or four concerts were hosted each year, drawing about 100 people "on a good day," Mrs. Deans said.

A good day nowadays brings more than 1,000 music fans to the concerts, with such acts as Atlas, the Frank Sacci Band and the Mario DeSantis orchestra consistently breaking the thousand mark.

"We knew we had a beautiful waterfront and wanted to draw people who would also see the village's potential, come here as tourists, and maybe invest in our village," Mrs. Deans said. "We often talked about Sackets as a center for the arts. The concerts were a tentative start."

In the early years, the concerts were held at the village docks. Crowds increased, and in 1994 performances were moved to the Battlefield State Park, where trees provided shade. The concerts are held there from 3 to 5 p.m. on Sundays.

"I think we thought the concerts would always be part of the ambiance we hoped for, but I think we thought they'd remain small and local," Mrs. Deans said. "It was a few years before we used agents or had nationally and internationally known artists."

This year's lineup continues that mixture of local and national acts. The series continues to be a team effort with all members of the historical society helping with such tasks as fundraising and graphics. The society's president is noted Sackets Harbor artist Lawrence C. Barone.

From the series' beginning until 1991, Mrs. Deans had help in concert coordination from Lyda Shockley; then Mary Burdette partnered with Mrs. Deans.

"When Mary moved on, Dick Stevens, Dave Altieri, Mary Ellen Powers, John Cleveland and I each took our turns hiring, but Kate Griffin and I have been hiring as a team since 2001," Mrs. Deans said.

This year's lineup:

JUNE 28

The series kicks off with returning local favorite theFrank Sacci Orchestraplaying World War II-era swing music. Mr. Sacci and his ensemble have played in the concert series since its inception and have opened the series for the past four years.

Mr. Sacci's nostalgic afternoon will include tunes by Harry James, Count Basie, Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman. Daniel Mosier will step out of the trombone section to sing a couple of Frank Sinatra favorites, and some patriotic standards are on tap in advance of Independence Day.

Also to be featured with the band is vocalist Laura Atkinson of Harrisville. She taught piano and voice in the Lowville area until recently, when she took time off to raise her family. Her mother-in-law, Shelene Atkinson of the Atkinson Family Bluegrass Band, enticed her to sing for co-worker Timothy L. Savage, baritone sax player in the Frank Sacci Band.

A child of Army and Air Force parents, Laura Atkinson lived in 22 communities before settling in Harrisville with husband, Adam, who plays mandolin in the Atkinson Family Bluegrass Band.

She began lessons in voice while she was a student at Rome Free Academy and was selected to sing in the chorus at the All Eastern Conference in Philadelphia, Pa. While earning her degree in music from SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music, she sang progressive rhythm and blues in her husband's band, Girth.

JULY 5

A tribute to "America the Beautiful" from theTrillium String Triowill feature baritone Thomas Anzalone of Syracuse and students from the Trillium Music Center, Watertown.

Performers are Trillium faculty members Agnes McCarthy, founder of the Trillium String Trio and principal instructor at the Trillium Music Center in Watertown, on violin; Christian Hosmer, a faculty member at St. Lawrence University, Canton, on cello, and Stephanie Widrick, former Trillium student and a 2003 graduate of the Crane School of Music, on violin and viola.

Chris Hyde-Hall will be on keyboard, reprising a concert she gave for the series in 1989.

The performance will also showcase the Trillium Fiddlers, a select group of Trillium students.

JULY 12

The Gibson Brotherswill bring their bluegrass sound to stage. Their latest album, released May 5, is "Ring the Bell."

"It makes me think of being young and growing up in our small farming community in New York," Leigh Gibson said in promotional material for the album.

"It evokes memories of fellowship with the men who knew my Grandfather Gibson at church on Sunday mornings. We'd see folks at the hardware store or the bank during the week and then see them all again at church each Sunday."

The brothers, who grew up on a dairy farm near Plattsburgh, last played at the series to a standing-room-only crowd in 2005, forced by rain into the village's Presbyterian Church.

The Gibson Brothers have grown to become one of the most sought-after bluegrass acts in the country.

"The Gibson Brothers deliver their tales of rural life with a mixture of pain and joy that rings truer than the romanticism of most bluegrass," a reviewer for the Washington Post wrote.

"If sunny skies prevail this year, we expect a record crowd at the Battlefield site for their wonderful story-songs and sparkling bluegrass harmonies," Mrs. Deans said.

JULY 19

For Can-Am weekend,Atlaswill return to rock the battlefield for a ninth time with its big and brassy party music that ranges from Earth, Wind and Fire and Tower of Power to Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett to Motown.

JULY 26

Gumbo YaYa,a band from Kingston, Ontario, will perform its fun blend of jazz, blues and gospel music. The sextet is led by Sam Hopkins with Jim Burr at piano.

AUG. 2

The War of 1812 weekend will feature a performance by the 10th Mountain Division Band.

The band recently returned from a deployment to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. It performed throughout Iraq and Kuwait for U.S. military and coalition forces. It will be the 15th appearance by the band at the series.

AUG. 9

During jazz weekend,Babik,a Gypsy jazz quartet from Rochester, will perform. The group's style blends American big-band swing with the exotic flair of European Gypsy folk songs

AUG. 16

The Latin American rock bandGrupo Paganis scheduled. The band's influences include Santana, Shakira and Sade. The band is a regular at area festivals and at the Dinosaur Bar B Que in Syracuse.

AUG. 23

Quickstep, consisting of John Kirk, Trish Miller, Sara Milonovich and Cedar Stanistreet, will perform, with special guest Mary Burdette, the former Sackets resident who was instrumental in booking concerts for the series throughout the 1990s. She has toured extensively in the United States, Canada, and Europe, playing old-time cowboy and traditional bluegrass music.

The band plays fiddle, flute, banjo, guitar, bass, mandolin and sings with melodious harmony. Even more variety is added with dance routines.

AUG. 30

Trinidad and Tobago,a Caribbean steel band, will perform. The music has stayed with band leader Alfred St. John since he left the islands in 1965. In 1966, he moved to Rochester and formed a steel band to share the musical culture of the islands with upstate New Yorkers. Now retired from Eastman Kodak, he and his steel band have played the East Coast since 1973.

SEPT. 6

TheMario DeSantis Orchestrawill return for the festival's Labor Day extravaganza.

"The big-band sound is uniquely American, and this showy group rounds up all the good tunes from the past 60 years," said Mrs. Dean.

The orchestra gave its first performance at Lincoln Auditorium in Syracuse on May 22, 1947, and continues with its repertoire of jazz to contemporary music.

It features special arrangements of big-band, swing, '60s and '70s, jazz and current selections that are custom written each year by Jay Owen and Joe Riposo.

Watertown Savings Bank is sponsoring the series this year. Additional funding is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts Decentralization Program, administered by the St. Lawrence County Arts Council; the village of Sackets Harbor; and the town of Hounsfield's committee for the Advancement of Tourism.

Contributions from area businesses and organizations, and a weekly "passing of the hat" at the concerts also provide financial support.

The rain site for concerts is the United Presbyterian Church, corner of Main and Broad streets.