PEKIN, Ill. – Leaders in Pekin have begun the work to build a new band shelter in the city’s Mineral Springs Park.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Thursday morning at the site of the Steven D. Skinner Performing Arts Venue. Skinner has been the head of the Pekin Park Concert Band since 1992.
Skinner says the honor was unexpected, but is greatly appreciated. But he says he’s more excited about having a permanent home for the band.
“That’s more important than the name to me is to have a place where we can acoustically hear each other when we’re playing, and right now we’re struggling because it’s hard to hear ourselves, to play music and keep it together. So this will help a lot, this is tremendous,” Skinner said.
The honor of naming the band shelter after Skinner was made possible after a $500,000 donation was made towards construction of the shelter.
To reach the point of groundbreaking on Thursday, Park District Executive Director Cameron Bettin says it took years of work from the community.
“We had a good probably 10-15 people that were dedicated, coming up with the design and idea and presenting it to the boards, and coming up with the game plan to start raising funds,” Bettin said.
Bettin says the venue will be an open-air band shelter with a metal roof and steel columns, and will blend in with the park as much as possible.
He says the shelter can have a wide range of uses; including dance programs from the park district, shows from the high school, concerts hosted by the Chamber of Commerce, and even weddings.
The original price tag of the band shelter’s construction was $1.2 million. Bettin says around $700,000 has been donated so far, and is hopeful the progress shown on Thursday will get people on board. He estimates they still need to raise around 200-thousand dollars to complete the project, though the city will need updated estimates from contractors.
City leaders are hopeful to have the band shelter in place by the Marigold Festival in September.
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