Brooktondale to bring more concerts to community center this year

This year, Brooktondale Community Center will be hosting the Brooktondale Live Music and Dance series, a series of 10 concerts that started with Dave Davies & Friends on March 10 and will continue with a different band on nine Sundays from 2 to 5 p.m. with the last one to be held Aug. 11.

The next show will be Crookside String Band this Sunday. The band plays music to accompany square and contra dancing.

“I’ve known Dave Davies for decades, and I was able to convince him to play at our farmer’s market a few times,” Emily Adams, Brooktondale Community Center Board of Trustees member and organizer of the event, explained. “That led to wondering what it would cost for him to come with other musicians, and seeing if we could get a grant for that.”

Adams applied for a Community Arts Partnership grant to bring a swing music series to Brooktondale last year. Having never applied for a grant before, she attended a question-and-answer session over Zoom. “I was like, ‘great, I can try this,’ but then I ran out of time, and I got discouraged, like, ‘I don’t have time to write this thing, so I’m going to skip it.’”

Robin Swartz, grant and program director for Community Arts Partnership, was not going to let that stand. She called Adams, saying she had expected to see an application from her. Swartz said that she is a small-town person herself and that she wanted to see some grant money go toward one of the smaller Tompkins County communities.

“She said ‘no one from the rural areas applies, so get your application in!’” Adams recalled. And a grant was ultimately awarded to the community center.

“We had five events and a couple more in the fall,” Adams said. Others at the Brooktondale Community Center expressed an interest in hosting other kinds of music in addition to swing. The grant is only available to fund live music or visual artists, so they looked into bringing in other bands.

“We said, ‘if the money comes through, we can offer $100 per musician—are you interested in coming to Brooktondale, where there’s no music scene?” Adams said.

They were able to comprise a 10-date lineup, so Adams applied for a second grant, which she received. “I asked for $5,000, and they gave me $4,500,” she said.

This year the community center will host square dances, contra dances, and even a band that performs “country, tangos, waltzes and Tex-Mex,” said Adams. (Some fans may recognize that unique description as the Trumansburg band TOiVO, which plays in the series June 16.)

Last year, the indoor concerts attracted around 15 to 35 people, which Adams said was more than enough for an enjoyable event, and there were tables and chairs set up for those who want to watch and listen to the music, which will be the case again this year. But then the outdoor concerts during the summer attracted 70 to 80 attendees, many of whom watched the dancers from a spot on the grass.

Adams even brings healthy snacks of chips, carrots and celery so attendees can keep their energy up while dancing.

All ages have a good time, she added. Even people with mobility issues get up and dance. “Some people who are older, and clearly have danced before, somehow, with no effort, move to the music and are totally enjoying it, and it totally works,” Adams said, “and you’re like, ‘Wow! I want to be able to dance like that when I’m 80.”

Even swing fans from as far away as Corning and Sayre came last year because they follow the bands and found it worthwhile to drive that far to hear good swing music, Adams said.

The community center is charging a $10 suggested donation and has a deal wherein those who would like to commit to attending all of the 2024 shows will receive two extra free tickets to give to a friend.

To take advantage of this special deal, contact Emily Adams at (607) 708-0342 or emilyfinnadams@gmail.com. For more information about the Brooktondale Live Music and Dance Series, visit https://www.brooktondalecc.org/music-dance-bcc.

This program is made possible (in part) with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant program from the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the office of the Governor and NYS Legislature, administered by the Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County.  

• March 17: Crookside String Band (Squares and Contras)
• April 14: Zingology (Swing)
• May 12: Pelotones (Swing)
• May 19: Cap Cooke & Friends (Squares and Contras)
• June 9: Greene Street band (Swing)
• June 16: Toivo (Swing, Tex-Mex, Country, Tangos, Waltzes…)
• July 14: Diana Leigh Quartet (Swing)
• July 28: Klezmer Kings (Klezmer)
• Aug 11: Ageless Jazz Band & other bands (TBD!)