Jackson band shell renovations are nearly done

Renovations to the Nicolus Leist Memorial Band Shell in preparation for the Jackson Municipal Band’s centennial celebration are nearly complete.

The city of Jackson is overseeing construction, which includes a widening of Symphony Drive, more parking, replacing the concrete pad, handicap-accessible sidewalks, more storm drainage and expanding electric service for the area.

Staff engineer Erica Bogenpohl said the entire project is estimated to cost $85,000, which the band will provide from its coffers.

“This is a really unique situation,” Bogenpohl said, because the band is its own entity, but the construction is on city property.

The band and the city soon will enter a memorandum of understanding, which Bogenpohl characterized as less binding than a contract but more than a handshake, that will state the band will cover the costs of the renovations up to $90,000.

Steven Sebaugh, municipal band board member, said the renovations are sorely needed.

“We’re basically trying to turn it into more of an amphitheater,” he said.

The overall process of preparing for the centennial in 2020, he said, began four years ago, when the sound system was upgraded.

“The idea was to provide musical entertainment for the city of Jackson and its residents,” he said, “so we can start hosting bigger shows, like Superjam.”

The idea snowballed after that, he said.

“We thought, ‘If we’re gonna do that, we’re going to need to increase our parking,’” Sebaugh said.

Because nursing homes expressed a desire to attend shows but couldn’t fit their buses on the road to the band shell, they had to expand that, too. Over the years, the site faced recurring drainage problems that contributed to the breaking down of the concrete pad. Sebaugh said that will be corrected by the new drainage.

Construction is expected to be completed in August, at which point the band will begin looking toward the next phase of upgrades, Sebaugh said.

“We thought that we might even put in a playground for people’s kids to play on during shows,” he said.

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3627