Let's bring more events back to the park

My wife and I spent May 3 downtown at Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park. A bagel and coffee go well with the view and the nice breeze and the general sense of contentment you get sitting on the park benches taking it all in.

This was in the morning, hours before A Taste of Beaufort and a week before the Bits 'N Pieces Puppet Theatre show both were held in the park. It's good to see Chambers' social calendar picking up as we head into summer, but there's still more we can be doing with the amphitheater and grounds.

I talked to Lisa Rentz, public relations coordinator for the Arts Council of Beaufort County, last week about that "Cinderella & the Chinese Slipper" puppet show, and she said the council was actively trying to bring more acts downtown. But it shouldn't be up to JUST the Arts Council to make the park the warm weather focus of the Beaufort arts scene. Other groups can step up to help.

I'm not talking about some radical idea or change -- I'm talking about getting back to the summer calendar we had in Beaufort in the years before the big park renovation. What happened? Why would improvements to the park diminish its ability to attract and sustain summer events?

Here are three things the park needs just to get back to where it once was. All of these have been done at the park in the past and are worth pursuing in the present:

1. MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC

There should be a concert at the park every Saturday. During the day, you can invite acoustic acts to perform to tourists and parkgoers, and at night you can have more contemporary music. Maybe some of the acts that play at the bars downtown can first set up outside in the amphitheater before transitioning at 10 p.m. to the club.

What's the downside to having live music on the weekends? Rowdy bar patrons? The acts would be done before the bars really got going. Competition? Um, getting people downtown and giving them a reason to hang out helps all businesses. Plus, Beaufort in the spring and summer is all about outdoor dining. Maybe you don't get some amped-up punk band to scream and shout as diners try to enjoy their $20 shrimp, but you can get a light jazz band or a reggae group to sprinkle some soothing sounds for the dinner crowd.

2. PLAY IN THE PARK

This is a bit trickier, but we should have theater in the park. And not the occasional fundraiser, but something broader and more regular. In the past, Beaufort has hosted Shakespeare performances, and that should return.

Performing drama outside is not an easy feat. Understood. I once did a 15-minute scene on a stage in the middle of a bustling mall, and it felt like the worst 30 minutes of my life. During the day you're competing against traffic and kids and dogs and bugs and all of the other things that make "sitting under a tree and reading a book" a hard task. Now try acting out the death scene from "Romeo and Juliet."

Our park is not, say, Boston Common, large enough that a stage can be positioned away from the distractions. Everything is a distraction. But I'm sure audiences would respond to live outdoor theater. You just have to teach them to be polite.

3. MOVIES

I try and spend as many summer evenings as possible at the local Highway 21 Drive-In, so I'm a bit of a sucker for stars under the stars, but there should be a summer movie series. I'm sure I'm not the only sucker.

The setup is simple -- you just need a DVD projector, a screen and room for blankets and chairs -- and most studios have established rules for nonprofits showing films in a public setting that are easy to understand and follow. The competition from the Saturday night bars might be a bit much -- you don't want the climatic scene from "E.T." ruined by Two Peas and a Biscuit's soundcheck -- but if the screen was placed at the far end of the park, near Saltus, it might be possible.

Plus, the bars might be willing to hold off on the live music until, say, 10:30 p.m. That would give moviegoers two hours to enjoy the show.

Look, I'm not talking about taking a step forward but a step back. Concerts and plays and movies and more have been a part of the park's fabric for years. We should get that back. Soon.