To say I am a ‘little excited’ is an understatement. In 2019 the one thing that made it bearable to live in Sioux Falls was the concert series, I think I attended almost every concert and only skipped out early on a couple of them. This is an enormous gift to our community and I encourage everyone to attend as often as possible. The concerts are FREE to the public (that is what makes them special) and present award winning and national and international talent. I am a bit bias as a visual artist I have often been jealous of musicians and love live music. Besides the bike trail, the Levitt is truly a gem in our city. Come join the fun Friday where Ranky Tanky will open the concert series, and many thanks to local director Nancy Halverson, her crew and volunteers for giving us the true gift of art.
I learned a lot today about the Levitt that I wasn’t aware of. Did you know;
• Levitt (Halverson) must raise approximately $605K a year locally to stay afloat.
• There will be no more Sunday concerts (it was too hot for them) they may do the family concerts on Friday mornings.
• At the Kory & the Fireflies concert the SFPD used it as a training exercise for a possible active shooter. There was a sharp shooter on top of the Lloyd building during the concert.
• JJ’s sold $41K in alcohol at the concerts. I want to applaud JJ’s, they did an excellent and professional job. I still think we should be able to bring our own 6-Pack.
• Approimately 58K attended the concerts this season.
• The city is planning on prepping the land North of Levitt for event space that will be tied into the Sioux Steel Development.
• Sanford wanted to be the leading major sponsor and Halverson had to explain to them that isn’t Levitt policy. In other words, Sanford wanted to pay more for corporate sponsorship then anyone else (and wanted more recognition of course). Halverson told them that ‘All corporate/major sponsors are treated the same and pay the same’. I thought that was refreshing.
It ended with Q & A, and I told Halverson she ‘Knocked it out of the park!’ and I encouraged everyone to go. I added, ‘Even if you don’t like the band playing, guess what, you can leave, you are NOT out of anything!’
I first want to say that Nancy Halverson and crew knocked it out of the park. I think only 2 concerts had to be completely cancelled, and a couple, including Friday night’s show had to end early due to weather. We expected that.
While they planned on 30 concerts this year, they plan to have 50 next year, I’m excited about it.
Here are some changes I would like to see made next year to make Levitt even better;
• Allowing people to bring their own beer or wine. I think it should be limited to that and NOT liquor. I also think that if people bring their own, they should have to get an ID badge. While JJ’s did a fine job, I think the city council could change the very simple ordinance that says Falls Park West (where the Levitt resides) to allow this. It really is as simple as an ordinance change.
• Put in permanent bike racks. I think they could be easily be put in along the sidewalk on the West side of the restroom. I do know that FAB is working with the city to do something better and I appreciate it.
• Plant more shade trees around the grounds. I also think that they should get a sponsor to put an awning coming off the restroom to the East.
• Take down bag search signs. You can’t search people’s bags without a warrant of probable cause. Maybe a sign that says “Suspicious bags subject to search.”
• No pets allowed. This of course would require a city ordinance that basically says pets are not allowed to the Levitt grounds area. JazzFest has NOT allowed pets for years. It’s not good for their health and they don’t want to be there anyway.
• Have Friday and Saturday night concerts from 8-10 PM. It was disappointing to see a concert end at 9 PM right when the sun was going down. As I understand it noise ordinance is 11 PM.
• Move the restroom drinking fountains to the Eastside of the building. Those fountains sit in the sun ALL day long, I have never gotten a cold drink of water from them, at best tepid.
• Don’t bring a lawn chair if you don’t need to. This of course will be something people who are attending will have to do on their own. I never sat in a chair all season long and only sat on the ground a few times. Dance and enjoy yourself.
I think with some minor tweaks (I think Levitt will propose some of their own) the 2020 season will be fantastic.
Kory & the Fireflies played the last show of the season last night.
It was a great season, only 2 concerts got fully cancelled (?) and tonight’s concert ended after about 4 songs due to lightning and rain. One more tomorrow night to wrap it up with local rockers Kory & the Fireflies.
I took this picture last night of the accordion player from the High Kings.
And I saved all my drink tickets from the concerts. Ironically, the guy who complained about not being able to bring his own beer bought quite a few drinks.
l3wis 
