By any measure, Saturday night’s concert a success

As the inaugural event, Saturday’s outdoor concert was by all accounts a success.

The performers were engaging, the crowds appreciative and the weather accommodating.

If there was a hitch to any of the hundreds of details that such an event must have required, the public was none the wiser. So hats off to Farm City Days organizers who hope that this is just the beginning of an annual summertime tradition, the Farm City Days Summer Concert Series.

Traditions are difficult to establish.

Part of Saturday’s success was that organizers tapped the expertise of those who handle Garnett’s Cornstock music festival, which has grown over the years from several hundred to several thousand concertgoers. Last year’s topped 5,000.

This isn’t a time to reinvent the wheel, but rather to use the knowledge gleaned from others. Concert organizing is a unique beast that entails hiring production managers, booking musicians, selecting a site, securing vendors, getting permits, selling tickets and negotiating contracts months in advance. Some compare it to planning a wedding, many times over.

Public buy-in through sponsorships was critical to the concert’s success. The strong reputation of Farm City Days assured sponsors from the get-go that the event would do them proud and Saturday’s event was no exception. The hope now is that more sponsors will hop on board to help draw even bigger crowds to see even bigger headliners.

The coordination between organizers and city and county agencies was spectacular. Nary an incident occurred in relation to the five hours of nonstop entertainment, which speaks, in part, to the forethought of planning for hundreds of people descending on the town.

Those who benefited from Saturday’s event included downtown retailers and restaurateurs, hotels and motels, grocers, liquor stores, convenience stores and gas stations.

Also on the winning side of the ledger is Iola as a whole. Many who’d never come our way before were drawn here by the event’s slate of entertainment and came away with a positive impression of our small town.

AS IS typical with those who played a role in getting Saturday’s event off the ground, no doubt they are rehashing the could’vebeens, should’ve-beens of the night.

Don’t.

Instead, relish the night’s success and let’s all raise a glass to what we hope is the beginning of a beautiful tradition.

— Susan Lynn