Tune up: Evening music event drawing bigger crowds

Picture a warm summer night, a little breezy if you're lucky. It's Friday. You just got off work and there's a sense of anticipation and freedom from the routine of the work-week.

Now it's time to head downtown, kick back on the grass on the Common Pleas courthouse lawn, and get into some music.

For the fifth year now, Tunes at Twilight has drawn music lovers to the gazebo at the courthouse. With each passing year, the crowds get bigger.

About 2,500 came in 2005, according to estimates by Old Town Cape, which promotes Tunes at Twilight. That's double the number who saw the series the previous year.

Things are still looking good for 2006, says Tom Higgins, former president of Old Town Cape and a regular at Tunes at Twilight.

"We've had a great first two weeks," Higgins said. "Attendance is up over last year."

In the first two weeks, nearly 500 people came to enjoy the kickoff program featuring a group called Brother Henry and the second week's feature, Claude Bourbon.

All anyone needs to do to enjoy the program is show up, Higgins said. Tunes at Twilight is free to the public. Two local businesses sponsor the concert series: Coad Chevrolet which has been a sponsor for the last three years, and more recently Capaha Bank. The musical groups are paid, but everything else connected with Tunes at Twilight is taken care of by volunteers.

Each week, a different downtown restaurant comes in to sell refreshments.

"Last week Burritoville ran out of food and had to make a second run," Higgins said.

The restaurants keep whatever they earn. The value in having them there is the good will their presence generates. Good music, good food -- what a way to attract people to the downtown area who might not otherwise come.

A variety of people enjoy the informality of the concerts.

"It's a pretty good mix," Higgins said. "I see older folks, young families. I see a lot of dogs and a lot of families."

It's nearly impossible to track where they come from, but Higgins says he thinks most of them are from Cape Girardeau. Maybe some follow the bands or others come across the river because they know the band.

The next series of Tunes at Twilight will begin Aug. 11 with Kimberley Dahme. Steve Schaffner will perform Aug. 18 followed by Ken Gaines and Karen Mal Aug. 25 , finishing up with Lila Nelson and Amelia White Sept. 1.