The Lawrence City Band is seeking city approval to build a new stage in front of the South Park gazebo to host its concerts and other community events.
John Esau, who is on the city band’s board, presented early plans for the stage this week to the Lawrence Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, which voted unanimously to support the idea.
According to the preliminary designs, an elevated concrete and brick platform would be attached to the gazebo and provide a space for concerts and other events.
Esau said the city band’s current set up on the grass near the gazebo had caused some logistical problems, including chairs sinking into soggy grass and people tripping over cables.
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The city band would fund the project, thanks to more than $100,000 in funds raised already. That includes a $50,000 gift from longtime band member Tom Hornbaker, who died in 2024, and his spouse, Shelly Hornbaker. The band anticipates total costs for the project to be about $150,000.
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“There’s no money out of taxpayer dollars or the parks and recreation department,” Esau said. “It can be used for all the other events that happen in South Park, and we want to make sure that whatever we build, it’s a multipurpose platform.”
The band’s board is hoping the new stage will be ready for its 2027 summer concerts.
Esau said the goal was for the project to be low-maintenance and nonintrusive. The platform, he said, could also be used for other South Park events.
The band for years performed its free summer concerts on the gazebo stage, which was built in the early 1900s, but switched to the grass after the pandemic, when the band expanded to include new instruments and music styles.
An initial concept for the stage shows it would be elevated about 14 inches and measure 40 feet long and 25 feet wide, but Esau said it may need to be a bit bigger to accommodate the entire band.
“We want it to be open green space,” he said. “We just need a place where we can set up without intruding on the historic nature.”
The city band is part of a long history of community bands in Lawrence, dating back to the Civil War. Board members also discussed possibly adding a historical plaque to the site.
The advisory board voted unanimously to recommend the new structure. Lawrence Parks and Recreation Director Lindsay Hart said city staff members are working on a memo about the project to present to the city commission.
Hart said the city is still exploring potential outcomes and costs related to the project.
“We’re not at the phase yet where I can offer any perspectives on the impact of a band platform, as that will come with time,” Hart said.
The city and Lawrence Farmers Market are also in the process of deciding on a new permanent home for the Saturday morning market, which currently operates as a pop-up in the parking lot at 824 New Hampshire St.
The city commission earlier this year gave tentative support to plans for a new market pavilion that includes performance space at the northwest corner of South Park.
But Esau said it wouldn’t work well for the city band, because the band uses the gazebo for storage and likes the historical ties it has to the band.
“Our logo for the Lawrence City Band has the gazebo in the logo,” he said. “So, it’s sort of iconic and tied to our history and legacy.”
The band looked at other options, including a temporary stage for the summer, but said the permanent stage would allow the band to remain near the gazebo, while providing a better performance space that could be used for other events.
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Cuyler Dunn (he/him), a contributor to The Lawrence Times since April 2022, is a recent graduate of the University of Kansas School of Journalism. He is an alum of Lawrence High School, where he was the editor-in-chief of the school’s newspaper, The Budget, and was also named the 2022 Kansas High School Journalist of the Year. Read more of his work for the Times here.
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