Park bandshell will be ‘worth the wait’

Construction progress on the new bandshell at Robe-Ann Park in Greencastle has been stalled while timbers specially cut for the project are being kiln-dried. The bandshell stage is not expected to be ready for the community’s July 4 celebration.

Banner Graphic/Eric Bernsee

Piggybacking on what he had told the Greencastle Board of Park Commissioners two days earlier, City Park Director Rod Weinschenk advised the City Council Thursday night that the new bandshell under construction in Robe-Ann Park will not be ready in time for his department’s signature event of the summer.

Prompted by Councilman Mark Hammer to elaborate on the story in Wednesday’s Banner Graphic revealing the delay in the project, Weinschenk grudgingly reiterated, “At this time it will not be ready for July 4.”

“It’s not going to be done,” the park director continued, “but it will be worth the wait.”

The bandshell, a Friends of the Park project fueled by local monetary donations and in-kind services and volunteer efforts, was conceived as an homage to Indiana’s covered bridges. The design bears a timbers-and-limestone motif.

“It’s going to resemble the inside of a covered bridge when it’s done,” Weinschenk noted. “Covered bridges were the inspiration for the timbers holding up the structure.”

And the timbers are indeed holding up the project.

Completion of the bandshell has been delayed by the availability of the specially cut timbers.

“The timbers are not going to be dried in time,” Weinschenk simplified for the Council and its City Hall and cable access TV audience.

Efforts to kiln-dry them are in progress at Pingleton Lumber as its contribution to the effort. But there doesn’t appear to be sufficient time for properly drying the timbers, Weinschenk said.

The delay has already caused the first few concerts of ParkFest’s 25th season to be moved to Bowman Park on the DePauw University campus.

Noting that the bandshell project has been driven by donations and volunteers, Weinschenk said he was “appalled by some of the comments” made by readers of the previous story on the Banner Graphic website this week.

“A lot of people have donated a lot of funding and hours to this,” he said alluding to the fact that their efforts deserve better.

Councilman Dave Murray said he, too, could live without such negativity, noting that Greencastle has a good thing going with positive momentum and negative comments do nothing but diminish that.

“Just please be quiet,” the councilman asked, urging critics to refrain from negative comments for the good of the community.

Meanwhile, Weinschenk said the Friends of the Park will petition for an entertainment application through the Department of Homeland Security, which must approve such structures in the wake of the 2011 Indiana State Fair tragedy when six people were killed when a temporary stage collapsed in high winds.

The hope is that bands booked for the July 4 celebration will be able to use the concrete risers at the front of the bandshell to set up and perform prior to the annual fireworks celebration even though the entire structure is not complete.

The original bandshell, which was erected in time for the nation’s Bicentennial celebration in 1976, was razed in February 2017 after it was deemed unsafe when the deteriorated condition of the wooden portion of the structure was discovered during repair attempts.