Published: June 29, 2008 12:25 am            

CANAL CONCERT: Series opens to great start

Discount parking and there are no hitches

By Bill Wolcott

wolcottb@gnnewspaper.com

A place to breathe, park and police presence made the city’s first foray into the Molson Canal Concert Series a family affair Friday night.

“All in all, for the first time, I thought it was great,” said Mayor Michael Tucker, who heard estimates of 10,000 people in the new venue. “The weather was perfect, the concert was great and there were no issues with the police.”

Lou Gramm, the former Foreigner front man, was the headliner. Blood Sweat & Tears is next, July 11, in the eight-concert series that used to be held along the canal in North Tonawanda.

Business owners heard gripes and ribbing from concertgoers about the $10 asking fees for parking. “They laughed at it and drove somewhere else where they could park for free,” said Manager Kim Milani of Sub Delicious. “There was plenty of parking everywhere. It was no big deal at all.”

“Parking for $10 too much,” another merchant said. “Everyone complained about it.”

Tucker, who will meet with policymakers Tuesday, thinks lot owners could tweak the $10 price. He added, however, that when bigger names come to entertain on Friday nights, there will be more people and more demand for parking.

Although hizzoner got close to the stage, he didn’t get a free T-shirt. Al Singleton, 13, did. The Lockport teen arrived at 5:30 p.m. and was close enough to catch a “Concert Series 2008” shirt.

Al was wearing his prize Saturday afternoon at Papa Leo’s. He never heard of Lou Gramm or any of the opening acts, but enjoyed his first experience at a rock concert. “They were good,” he said. “I’ll come back to every single one.”

His friend, Roger Hueber, 16, arrived late. He knew Foreigner’s music. “I loved it, everything, the older music, classic music. I grew up listening to older music and will definitely come back,” he said.

Lockport police stationed its regular shift at the concert, plus had six to eight officers on overtime. There were also four sheriff’s deputies on horseback.

“It was kind of heavy last night,” Tucker said. “We didn’t know what to expect.”

Officer Joe Brown was on the inside of the fenced in arena. “It was great,” he said Saturday. “There were a lot of families here. I was surprised.”

There was one call for a girl who had a seizure, but no problems, no fights and plenty of room.

“Everyone that I saw loved it,” Brown said. “The concert sounded great. I saw Gramm when he played in Foreigner, but he still sounded pretty good.”

Officer Michael Stover was on bike detail outside the fenced-in lots. “It was enjoyable,” he said. “The crowd was well-behaved. The thing went without any hitches. From a police perspective, everything went fine. You plan for the worst and hope for the best, and that’s exactly what happened last night.”

Amy Kimmel heard the music from her home on Juniper Street and enjoyed it.

Chris Mielcarski, 24, waved through the fans to get to the edge of the stage. “It was crazy,” he said. “There were a lot of people. It was nuts.” His estimate was 15,000.

Mielcarski never heard of Gramm, but knew the Foreigner name.

Friday regulars may have stayed away from Sub Delicious, but the restaurant on the edge of the show got a lot of new customers.

“It was busy. It was great,” Milani said. “There were a lot of people. They were very, very happy. It was nice. If you saw the faces on people, they were really, really, really happy. We haven’t seen that in Lockport in a long time.”

Milani, who has lived in Lockport 20 years, is a North Tonawanda native. “In North Tonawanda, it is was all crammed together. The comment I heard is how It was all spread out here. There was a lot of room to move around. People were just having a good time, relaxing, enjoying the music.

“They were very well-behaved. It was a really nice crowd and a lot of police presence detoured any bad element or any trouble.”

Sub-Delicious and Papa Leo’s also had regular walk-in traffic from Saturday’s Craft Show. The crafters were not allowed to set up until 8 a.m. and it was raining in the morning.

“It starts at 11 a.m. but it takes us a good three to four hours to set up,” said the proprietor of Darington Pa. Country Wood products. “We have to get here at 6 a.m. to have breathing time.”

Josh Gross of Medina came to the concert after work at 8:45 p.m. “Great packs,” he said. “There were a lot of people. The concert was pretty good. The sound was pretty good. I liked it. It was loud.”

Ralph Williams worked until midnight, but found his way to Taboo after the concert. “There was a lot of people who had a great time,” he said. “It was packed. It was crowded. It was like a smokin’ bode of young women.”

Taboo was closed Saturday afternoon, with Molson Canadian signs left in the window.

Tucker said he thought the promoters were pleased. He will meet with the promoters, police, highways and parks on Tuesday. “I think they were happy,” he said. “I think the thing went as good as possible.”

Contact reporter Bill Wolcott

439-9222, ext. 6246.

        

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