By: Bob Pratte | Original Article at pe.com
Estimates of 15,000-fan audiences for the biggest acts during Beaumont’s 10 summers of free concerts may be high, but I do believe there were more than 7,000 people who listened to Kenny Rogers on Wednesday.
Sadly, the 76-year-old country balladeer, who was paid $65,000 for his well-received show, could be the last in the city’s remarkable staging of headliner acts in Stewart Park. I hope it’s not, as Rogers sings, “time to fold ‘em.”
City officials face tough financial questions as they draft a budget for the fiscal year that began July 1. Eliminating concerts is an easy cut to help the bottom line. But they would be missed.
I hope the city can figure out a way to save at least a semblance of the concert series, which is unique in the region. Community concerts in places like Banning’s Repplier Park and Hemet’s Ramona Bowl tend to feature reasonably priced tribute bands, not the actual stars.
In recent years, Beaumont officials paid $43,000 for Lonestar, $56,000 for Wynona and the Big Noise, $62,500 for LeAnn Rimes and $52,000 for The Bangles.
The shows, while absurdly expensive for a small town, did create a fun, positive image for the city. It was an effective way to market Beaumont.
The thousands in attendance Thursday clearly enjoyed themselves as the beloved Rogers sang a string of familiar hits including “The Gambler,” “Lucille,” “Lady” and “Islands in the Stream.”
Rogers was roundly cheered. He was a great showman. Between hits, he goofed around on stage, tossing cash and signed T-shirts to people in the front rows.
It was a nice night on a day marred by an awful traffic accident in Beaumont that killed two and closed northbound lanes on Highway 79 through Lamb Canyon. The closure made it difficult for Rogers fans from the San Jacinto Valley and beyond to drive to Beaumont. Afternoon downpours and flash-flood warnings may have kept people away as well.
I had to drive from the San Jacinto Valley west to Moreno Valley and double back east on the 60 Freeway to reach Beaumont.
I was amazed by the massive size of the crowd. The clouds turned beautiful shades of orange at sunset. It didn’t rain on what turned out to be a very nice evening.
I counted 50 rows of people in folding beach chairs from the top of the park down to the stage. I tallied 125 people in a row stretching across the grass of the broad park. Without ticket sales, it’s impossible to know the crowd size. Multiplying rows by the number of people produced the number 7,250, which I think is a decent method.
People also sat in the park away from the rows, stood on streets, listened from a playground and wandered through the Beaumont Chamber of Commerce’s Market Night collection of vendors that was part of the event.
There very well could have been more than 8,000, or even 9,000 people in and around the park. It was a nice night worth repeating.
To keep the series going, maybe city officials could bring in one big headliner in a summer instead of three or four. Perhaps there is a way the city collect a minimal entrance fee from people attending a nonprofit event without causing entertainers to raise prices for a show with ticket sales.
Tickets cost $60 to $90 for the Kenny Rogers show Saturday, Aug. 1, at Pechanga Resort & Casino by Temecula.
If there were 8,125 people in attendance in Beaumont, and I think there were, it would have cost just $8 per person to pay the $65,000 Rogers charged.