Late summer Saturday nights on Appletree Cove this year will lively up the Port of Kingston as Tunes on Tuesday, the weekly summer concert series in August that was for years produced by Kitsap County Facilities, Parks and Recreation Department, gets moved to weekends.
When the parks department announced it was stepping back from event production, the port offered to take over the popular summertime series at Mike Wallace Park, with the support of the Downtown Kingston Association. To make the event more accessible to people who work during the week and offer get-up-and-dance entertainment to weekend boaters moored at the marina, the concerts will take place Saturday evenings in August.
“We’re going to test the waters and see what it’s like,” said Port of Kingston Commissioner Tom Coultas. “We hope to get a lot more people out to enjoy the concerts and it’ll be a nice thing for boaters in the community.”
Food vendors will also be invited down, Coultas said, to turn the early evening events into festive gatherings. “My philosophy is we’re not doing these to be stand-alone events – we want to get as many civic groups involved as possible.”
Sponsors, who help pay the bands and for advertising, are lined up for three of the five concerts so far, according to DKA president Nancy Martin. Two more are needed. Kingston Kiwanis and Wetter LLC are sponsoring the band House of Cards, and Kingston Stakeholders are sponsoring the Foggy Bottom Jazz Band. The Kingston-North Kitsap Rotary will also sponsor a concert.
Rotary plans to set up a cordoned-off beer and wine garden on the cement pad in the parking lot during concerts, Martin added, with funds raised benefiting local schools and parks. The Port of Kingston has donated $500 to help defray costs of the concerts and is paying the user fees for the park, she said.
When the Paddle Kitsap kayaking event comes to Kingston Aug. 1-2, there will be festivities at Mike Wallace Park over three days: on Thursday evening, July 30, after paddlers register there; on Friday when participants come ashore in Kingston for the night at the end of the first day of paddling from their launch in Port Gamble; and Saturday when paddlers head back out in the morning towards their journey’s end in Poulsbo. That evening, the first of the August concert series takes place.
Hosting more community events is something residents within the four-square-mile port district have expressed they want.
“This year, we’re kind of expanding the horizons that people on the survey three years ago recommended,” Coultas said.
The port’s future plans include construction of a performing arts gazebo and picnic areas. A small watercraft facility should be installed by early fall and finishing touches are being put on the water feature and information center near the port office and redesigned walkway along the waterfront.
