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By K.D. Norris

ken@wktv.org

There is no plan to change its name to Frederik Meijer Gardens, Sculpture Park & Summer Concert Amphitheater, despite the growth of the Gardens music venue from its modest beginning with modest expectations in 2003 to a 30-concert-a-year, 90-plus percent sellout annual attraction.

But there is no doubt that the Fifth Third Bank Summer Concerts at Meijer Gardens is a promotional and financial success story for one of West Michigan’s premier cultural attractions.

While David Hooker, President and CEO at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, did not come to his position until three years after the amphitheater opened, he recently told WKTV that few in leadership at the Gardens really expected the venue and the concert series to grow into what it has become.

“By virtue of what has happened since then, it is proof that we didn’t have any idea. We had high hopes … (but) there has been a wonderful reception of our series by the community,” Hooker said. “I forget the exact year, but we did a major expansion on the amphitheater, five or six years ago, by the generosity of Fred and Lena Meijer we were able to do that. … low and behold, a few years later, we outgrew that. So now we are at it again.”

The “at it again” Hooker is referring to is the two-year makeover of the amphitheater currently at mid-stage, with upgrades to back stage area and the amphitheater’s distinctive acoustic bandshell, and a complete makeover of the venue’s handicapped, sponsor and VIP seating sections. (After this summer’s concert season is complete, a significant alteration and expansion of the venue’s outside entrance, concession area and restroom layout will begin to be ready for the 2019 season.)

While the sponsor and VIP seating area has increased capacity from 242 portable chairs in the past to 410 permanent seats, high and in the back of the amphitheater, and there has been a slight expansion and reconfiguration of the general admission grass seating area, the total general admission capacity has remained at 1,900.

The capacity is both intentional on the part of management of the Gardens and important to the concert promoter who has worked with the venue from its first year — when Art Garfunkel and the Charlie Daniels Band headlines a 10-concert series that was not always well attended.

“What Meijer Gardens has out there is pretty unique,” Chris Mautz, who now runs his own concert promotion company out of Salt Lake City, Utah, said to WKTV. “We have developed based on the success of not just of the attendance numbers but also the success of the connection between audience and artist. We have been very fortunate to develop a positive reputation there as being one of the cool, dynamic places to play on the summer tours.”

Mautz, echoing Hooker, points out that the concert series — deciding which acts are booked — is also a unique collaboration between venue and promoter: “In a lot of ways I see myself as part of an overall team at the Gardens where, over the last decade plus, we have formed a connection and a commitment to really trying to present a diverse and compelling lineup of shows,” Mautz said. “It is much more of a collaborative effort.”

That collaborative effort includes understanding that the musical venue is, first and foremost, at a family-friendly botanical garden and sculpture park, with residential property nearby — neighborly noise concerns and a mostly rigid early “final encore” requirement are often a consideration in booking.

But those requirements have not proved to be an obstacle to either attracting top-talent year after year or prevented the concert series’ growth from its less-than-overwhelming numbers in the early 2000s to being the success it is today.

The concert series, over the years

From 2003 through 2009, the venue booked between 10-13 concerts, but many years had less than half of concerts being sell-outs, according to information provided by Meijer Gardens.

2010 seemed to be a watershed year as far as popularity, with 10 of the 16 concerts being sellouts and featuring a lineup that opened with a capacity crowd for the Doobie Brothers, and included sellouts from Indigo Girls, Chris Isaak, Lyle Lovett and Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion.

When the series expanded to 22 concerts in 2011, and 25 in 2012, it also added a few more concerts to appeal to a younger audience, including Guster, Fiona Apple, Andrew Bird, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, The Head and the Heart, and OAR.

In 2013, the series climbed to 29 concerts and has stayed at 29-31 concerts through this year, with there being sellouts numbering in the mid-20s each year — and each year there seems to be a mix of classic rock, folk, some alt/modern rock, with a jazz or two, as well as something for a more, shall we say, “traditional entertainment” crowd such as Harry Connick Jr., Dancing with the Stars, and the still much-talked-about visit by Tony Bennet in 2015.

For a WKTV story on this year’s concert line-up, visit here.

Concert series a success on multiple levels

The venue and the mix of musical genres and audiences has not only been a success, the summer concert series has benefitted Meijer Gardens on several levels:  promotional, financial and patron inclusiveness.

“A couple of really important things that we tried to accomplish with the amphitheater is that we looked at it as portal to the organization,” Hooker said. “A lot of people … may become a member so they get first dibs on the tickets, and then they sit in that beautiful amphitheater and off to the distance they see … (various gardens and works of art) … and they say maybe I should check out the rest of the organization.

“The second thing we try to accomplish is that we are very intentional about reaching out to all walks of life, to have them come to Meijer Gardens. We want this to be a place were everybody is welcome. There is some intentionality in the artists we select, to attract people from all walks of life.”

And when it comes to the financial benefit to the Gardens, Hooker diplomatically said the concert series has brought in important “cash.” But “that needs to be put into context,” he adds.

“As the Meijer Gardens amphitheater was built, and added onto, and added onto, 100 percent of the dollars that has gone into the amphitheater events has been charitable dollars. So we are able to present the concert series without having to pay for the venue, which is really important.

“If you have to account for that cost out of ticket (costs) it would add a significant amount of money to the cost of the tickets. … The generosity of the Meijer family and the community has done that. And since we don’t have to do that, we do make what I call cash from the amphitheater, which helps, then, to cover the maintenance costs, depreciation costs, so forth, of the amphitheater.”

And the future of the concert series? The 30-concert season seems to be a pretty stable number and, as Hooker said, “We are very committed to the amphitheater and the concert series for the very long term.”