The beat goes on at annual Music Fest
Gambling that the ominous clouds above would produce little rain, about 200 people mingled in Patriot Square Park on Sunday evening to enjoy the 9th Annual Nanticoke Music Fest.
While John Stevens’ Doubleshot set the tone with a selection of danceable polkas, youths made their own popping rhythm by throwing Snap Pops, which explode with a bang on the concrete.
Heather Evans, who was selling small toys and gifts from a booth, said she sold out of the popular, small explosives.
The three-day event culminated Sunday, and though the crowd wasn’t as large as it was the first night, given the weather, people involved with the event were pleased.
“Basically, we break even, and that’s all we want to do,†said Yvonne Bozinski, who organized the event.
“The past two days were great. The rain scared (visitors) away, but it’s coming back,†Slyvia Mizdail said later in the evening while selling raffle chances for a collection of gift certificates to local restaurants. Called “A Taste of Nanticoke,†the raffle is raising money for the Mercy Hospital special care unit.
The park has been the setting for live music since the early 1900s. To celebrate that, this year’s fest highlighted the bands of Nanticoke’s past, from the marching bands and orchestras of the first half of the past century to the four- and five-member acts that became the rage in the latter half.
Shirley Cottrino remembered her father, Steve, who, at 18, started playing the trumpet in the Peter Pace band in 1918. He later formed his own orchestra, Steve Cottrino’s Sylvans and his Cadets, in the early 1930s and continued playing locally until 1979.
About 30 years ago, his band was asked to start the Wilkes-Barre Philharmonic, she said, which eventually merged with the Scranton orchestra to become the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic.
“He patterned himself after the Boston Pops. He was an admirer of Arthur Fiedler,†she said.
In 1961, while Cottrino was playing summer concerts at the park, Dan Novak began headlining a series of bands, including the Original Trailblazers, Danny & the Excels and, in the 1980s, King Rat and the Vermin.
“It was a lot of camaraderie. I met a lot of people, did a lot of traveling,†he said. “Ever since I was a kid, I enjoyed singing.â€
These days, though he’s left the music circuit, he still plays informally with the members of one of his past bands and spends hours singing karaoke in his basement.
No doubt, others would agree with his reasoning: “Music makes me happy.â€
Source: www.timesleader.com
