BAINBRIDGE - As in previous years, the live outdoor entertainment offerings of Chenango County for 2016 is indeed a crowded house, given the narrow window of cooperative weather central upstate New York is blessed with.
Nonetheless, a husband-and-wife duo have learned first-hand that success in that somewhat over-saturated market is proportionate to the amount of hard work—and sacrifice—they put into it; much to the advantage of the place they call home.
Over the course of the past five years, Rock in the Park organizers Jason and Erica Hall have leveraged the power of popular world class touring headliners to the benefit of area nonprofits in need of a helping hand.
This year’s headliner, The Marshall Tucker Band, will share the stage with a couple local acts much in the same vein, genre-wise. Both Tumbleweed Highway and Woodshed Prophets boast a strong following up and down the east coast, the latter of the two performing at every Rock in the Park concert since its inception in 2012.
Wreckless Marci, a Binghamton based cover band, will return to the venue for a follow-up appearance as well.
“We feel very fortunate that we have the opportunity to support the SPCA while sharing our original music right here at home,” said Nate Gross, lead singer and guitarist of Tumbleweed Highway. “It’s a great venue for a great cause, and we’re glad to be a part of it.”
When asked how the fundraising concert came into fruition, Jason Hall, who works as a sponsorship executive at Tioga Downs raceway in Nichols, admitted “Well, I really feel that everyone has something inside of them that wants to give back. With my job, I’m fortunate enough to have the ability to do just that.”
Given his position in the sponsorship and promotion industry, putting his talent and contact list to task for his local community was a natural and fluid move that just made sense for Hall.
In years prior, the Bainbridge event raised thousands of dollars for the local chapter of the Toys for Tots organization; and from humble beginnings, the Halls have made it an annual goal of out-doing the year before.
So far their determination has paid off.
