Carrboro Community, Band Celebrates New Bandstand

The Village Band, a 25-year-old group composed of Chapel Hill and Carrboro residents, put the new bandstand to use for the first time before a crowd of residents and officials.

The bandstand, large enough to hold a 30-person band, was completed last spring as the last of three structures planned for the development of the Carrboro Town Commons on Main Street.

The commons, once a softball field, is now home to the nationally known Carrboro Farmer's Market and has been the site of development totaling more than $348,000 during the last 15 years, Carrboro Town Manager Robert Morgan said.

Morgan said the bandstand's cost of $35,000 was difficult to raise because it did not receive state or national funding like the farmer's market structures did.

Alderman Diana McDuffee said the project would have taken several years to fund had it not been for an anonymous donation of almost $17,000 that allowed the project to come together last year.

"We just weren't reaching the goal," McDuffee said. "Then we got an anonymous donation that closed the gap."

Carrboro resident Bob Wright, who used to sell T-shirts and memorial bricks at the farmer's markets to fund the bandstand, agreed the donation was integral in finishing the construction of the bandstand in a timely manner. "That would have been a lot of T-shirts," Wright said.

Carrboro Mayor Mike Nelson opened the ceremony with praise for the dedication displayed by the Carrboro community members who promoted the bandstand.

"With typical Carrboro persistence, we didn't give up," Nelson said. "This is just one more in a long line town projects."

The bandstand had an opening ceremony after its completion last spring in honor of a woman who had been working with the farmer's market since its inception, Alderman Allen Spalt said.

"But it's equally appropriate that the Village Band plays here tonight, because they've wanted this for a long time," Spalt said.

Tympanist Steve Blanchard was one of the band members excited to be performing in the new bandstand.

"It's great -- I've been waiting for this for a long time," he said.

James Harris, director of Carrboro economic development, said he was excited about the bandstand because he thinks it will help perk up downtown Carrboro.

"This is all part of an overall economic development plan," he said. "People will come here to listen to music and then go out to eat at downtown restaurants."

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