New Stage

FANS Helps to Fund New Stage for Music on the Lawn – Click to enlarge – Contributed photo

A generous donation to Families and Neighbors Support Island Rec (FANS) has led to a larger and more professional stage for Island Rec’s popular Music on the Lawn series.

The new 12’ x 24’ modular stage with a water resistant deck, was made possible through a more than $7,400 donation to FANS from the Honeywell Charitable Fund of the Community Foundation of the Rappahannock River Region.

Now in its 14th year, the free series originally had been using the front porch of the Scribner cabin as its stage, but in 2012 it was moved as the museum dug up the lawn to lay electrical wires; the bands were then moved across the lawn onto 4’x 8’ plywood platforms made from the walls of a duck blind.

“We were moving in the wrong direction going from the front porch of a cabin to the walls of a duck blind for a stage,” said Island Rec Director Sally Thomsen. “Now—thanks to this generous donation and the support from FANS—Music on the Lawn has a safe and proper stage.”

The nonprofit group FANS was formed in 2012 to fill the gap (primarily through fundraising efforts and events) between the community’s park and recreation needs and what Island Rec’s budget can afford to address.

The new stage will also be used by other organizations. It premiered during the Kiwanis’ Pig War Picnic on July 4 and will be used during the Historical Museum’s Pioneer Day event.

A full schedule of the Music on the Lawn concerts, which continue on Wednesday evenings through August 6, is available at www.islandrec.org. For more information on supporting FANS through its FAN Club membership for as little as $10 a year, visit www.islandrecfans.org.

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