MUSIC TO FILL DOWNTOWN OCT. 13, 14

"You can't have too much music."

With this year's City of Roses Festival kicking off on a full-moon Friday the 13th, that's the slogan organizers have chosen for the event.

About 50 musical acts will perform at two new venues when the fourth annual festival is presented Oct. 13 and 14 in downtown Cape Girardeau.

In addition to performing at night spots throughout the downtown, musical acts also will play at a stage to be erected at Spanish and Themis streets, making use of the natural amphitheater of the Common Pleas Courthouse lawn.

The other new venue will be the parking lot at the corner of Water and Themis streets, across from Port Cape Girardeau restaurant.

The festival's third venue will remain at the parking lot at Independence and Main Street across from Hutson's Furniture.

The fourth venue once again will be located at the River Campus on Morgan Oak Street. Music there will be aimed at under-age audiences because no alcohol will be allowed on the site. Alcohol also won't be allowed at the courthouse stage.

Brad Graham, a spokesman for the festival, said country music, blues, originals, contemporary Christian music and acoustic music are some of the genres to be represented at the festival.

Two special attractions this year will be Tamms, Ill., harp player Snooky Pryor and a St. Louis rock 'n' roll band named Just Add Water.

Also new this year, the festival is using part of the proceeds to establish scholarships at Southeast Missouri State University in the names of three well-known local musicians: Homer Gilbert, Eddie Keys Sr. and William Shivelbine Sr.

Keys and Shivelbine are deceased. The 87-year-old Gilbert, a longtime big-band trumpet player who also played in the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band for many years, will be invited to open this year's festival.

The Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center is helping promote this year's festival. Mike Baremore, the marketing education teacher coordinator at the center, will guide 13 high school students who will produce a brochure about the festival and about the musical history of Cape Girardeau.

In addition, Central Junior High music teacher Steve Schaffner is organizing a call for musical talent from the school to perform at the River Campus.

In some past years the City of Roses Festival has defrayed expenses with the help of a $6,000 grant from the Missouri Arts Council, but that grant was not received this year, Graham said.

For the first time, the annual awards banquet will be held some time after the festival this year. Graham said only those who attend the festival will be able to vote for the awards. The six award winners will receive a promotional package from Fox 23 KBSI WB 49 and the Zimmer Radio Group, two of the festival's major sponsors.

Some of the other major sponsors of the festival are the Southeast Missourian, CP McGinty, VTG, and the Pyramid Group.