Park here on Wednesdays

▼ One islander shares fond memories of a summertime

family tradition.

Linda Snyder once sat on a committee whose organizers wanted to hold standing meetings on Wednesday evenings during the summer.

“And I went, ‘Won’t happen,’” Snyder said. “My concerts take priority.”

Snyder and her 18-year-old daughter, Sidney Mattocks, have been going to the free Wednesday summer concerts at Waterfront Park for so many years that Snyder’s lost track of exactly how long it’s been. She just remembers that Sidney was “very young,” and that practically since the series’ inception, it’s been on her calendar without fail.

“It’s such a wonderful community event – to have live music outdoors, bring your picnic, and see everyone you know,” she said. “It’s sort of like the supermarket, in the frozen food section.”

Concerts in the Park began in July 1988 in Battle Point Park, the brainchild of the late Jim Arsenault, founder of Opera Northwest. Early on, Snyder recalls, the bands were low-key and local, often high-school bands showing off their stuff to friends and neighbors.

Two decades later, the series, now put on by the Bainbridge Island Park District with support from the City of Bainbridge, has a permanent home at the Waterfront Park stage, with an expanded roster of acts that includes regional and nationally known artists.

But it’s lost none of its community flavor, as spouses make arrangements to meet there after one heads off an evening ferry; friends gather on picnic blankets; and families stake out picnic tables, each person bringing something to contribute to a potluck. One woman, Snyder said, reliably brings a candelabra.

According to Georgia Browne, cultural events coordinator for the park district, concerts draw anywhere from 300 to 500 people, with numbers heading toward that upper range as the summer continues and weather warms.

Early in the evenings, she said, it’s often so sunny that people hide in the woods.

“As the sun goes down, everyone creeps down toward the stage,” she said.

Browne says that hands-down, the Wednesday concert series is the most fun part of her job.

“It’s once the band’s up and running, and I just get to sit and watch and see everybody have fun,” she said. “It’s a very fulfilling thing to see so many people so happy and relaxed, and to say that I had something to do with that...that’s what I love the most.”

Back when Sidney was young, Snyder said she’d run up and down the makeshift aisles and do somersaults. And even though those days are done, she still likes to dance, and will sometimes indulge her mom.

Often, though, Snyder’s the only one up and moving.

“I’ve been known as the lady who dances in the park,” Snyder said. “There’s many a story I could tell you.”

Once, for instance, she was out with Sidney and a friend’s young child, and noticed that a nearby gentleman kept looking at her.

“Finally, he stopped and said, ‘I know you. You’re the lady who dances in the park,’” she said.

Another time, someone Snyder didn’t know piped up at the T & C deli line.

“The concerts start next week, don’t they?” she asked Snyder.

The nicest was the woman who stopped Snyder on her way out of the park.

“You make me feel so happy,” she told Snyder.

And Snyder answered, “Next time, you’re getting up.”

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