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From the sun setting over SouthPark to the orchestra tuning up, it was the same scene as scores of previous Sundays in June. With one extra piece:
Charlotte Symphony volunteers waded through the crowd with big white plastic buckets. They asked people arriving at Symphony Park to drop in cash to help keep the orchestra alive.
The group has always passed the hat – actually, it used to be the pillowcase – among the thousands of people who turn out religiously for its free Summer Pops concerts. But this year, it's making more of a point of it.
On top of several years of financial troubles, the orchestra has been hit by the recession and, most recently, a cutback in its financial support from the Arts & Science Council. For the first time, it's asking adults at the Summer Pops concert to give at least $5 apiece.
The orchestra's staff didn't have time to count the money until today, executive director Jonathan Martin said. But even without knowing the total, the orchestra was already gratified, he said.
“As important as the money,” Martin said, “is the show of support.”
Before the concert, Lisa Carlisto of Charlotte sat next to the pond that surrounds the stage, sharing a picnic spread with seven of her friends on a “girls' night out.” They all had donated.
“I can't imagine that anyone here would resist,” said her friend, Susan Carr. “I gave more than five bucks.”
“I did, too,” Carlisto said. She added that everyone in the group had.
The moderate temperature and the lack of rain threat helped pack Symphony Park with potential donors. The slope was full. The crowd spread uphill into the mall parking lot, over into the blocked-off Barclay Downs, and behind the stage to the office-park lawns across Morrison Boulevard.
The orchestra's leaders estimated that 8,000 to 10,000 people had turned out.
Linda Daleure, a Charlotte Symphony board member who has worked the Summer Pops crowds for years taking up collections, said she had never seen anything like what was happening Sunday. She was working on her second bucketful of cash.
“People are running us down, instead of us having to go to them,” she said. Her husband, Bill Daleure, said he had even received couple of $100 bills.
“This is exciting,” he added. “People have gotten the message, and they're stepping up.”
Another orchestra volunteer, Gale Pendergraph, was also on his second bucketful – and these buckets, bear in mind, were contractor-size. He said that symphony players had been putting in money along with everyone else. He estimated that about half the orchestra had done so.
Front and center in the crowd on the grass, Terry and Hank Gransee wore blue stickers emblazoned “STAND UP FOR YOUR CHARLOTTE SYMPHONY.” Everyone who donated at least $5 received one.
As regular members of the Summer Pops crowd, they've always made donations, Hank Gransee said. But this time, they gave extra.
“Hopefully, they'll get a good bundle,” Terry Gransee said.
Ron McLauchlin of Charlotte wore another of those blue stickers. These are “tough times” for many, he said. Nevertheless, “people have got to support the symphony.”
“You've got to take care of it somehow,” he insisted. He said it would be fine with him if the orchestra put a fence around Symphony Park and charged $5 or $10 a ticket to get in. “People spend more than $5,” he said, “on beer.”
