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Party in the Park bids farewell to downtown Roanoke
The beach music inspired weekly event will move to Daleville Town Center beginning in May.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
The Party in the Park isn't. Not anymore.
Oh, the regular summertime weekly beach music-infused gatherings put on by EventZone will go on again this year. Just not in the venue that gave them their name.
EventZone is moving the party from Elmwood Park in downtown Roanoke to the Daleville Performance Pavilion in Botetourt County for this season.
With work already under way to make over the Elmwood amphitheater, EventZone had to look for a new home for one of its signature events, but Executive Director Jill Sluss said now that they've found the spot in Daleville, they aren't looking back.
"It really was a no-brainer because it's such a beautiful area," Sluss said. "And they are so excited to have us, which is so refreshing."
The venue, just off U.S. 220, is just 15 minutes from the old one, Sluss said, and it's far more conducive to the Party in the Park events than Elmwood was.
It has copious parking, for one thing, Sluss said. And the venue itself is bigger. Where Party in the Park typically drew about 1,000 people to Elmwood, Sluss believes 1,400 is a realistic regular turnout at the new spot.
A 40-by-50-foot dance floor should be built there soon, too, according to Sluss.
It doesn't hurt that EventZone's expenses for Party in the Park will actually be lower in Daleville, according to Sluss.
"Our plans are to keep it there," she said.
The pavilion opened in spring 2012 and hosted a full schedule of events last summer, said Steve Claytor, a vice president with Fralin and Waldron, which built and manages the pavilion as part of its Daleville Town Center development.
Claytor hopes hosting Party in the Park will draw people out from Roanoke and other places who might not otherwise know the pavilion is there.
Sluss hopes to draw many of the same patrons who have attended the events downtown, plus new ones.
The admission prices will remain the same, Sluss said: $6 for adults, with children 12 and under free. A 10-night punch card is $50.
Musically, the emphasis remains on the beach music shaggers love to dance to, according to Sluss.
The line up includes beach music stalwarts Ken Knox and Company (formerly the Chairmen of the Board), The Tams and The Embers, among others.
The season runs from May 16 to Sept. 12, 6-9 p.m. every Thursday except July 4.