Arts & Entertainment

Celebrating 25 Years of the Sherman Green Gazebo

Celebration Next Sunday to Feature the Glamour Girls at 7 P.M.

Mimi Kish of Fairfield loves coming to Sherman Green for summertime concerts that feature bands playing from the Sherman Green Gazebo.

"It's something for all of us citizens to look forward to, and it's live," Kish said a few minutes before Steve D'Agostino's band kicked off Sunday night's concert. "To me, it's a major plus in the summer. We all look forward to it. It's a place to meet, and we bring our Sugar Daddy lollipops."

"It's beautiful, it's a landmark, and I just have such a nice, tranquil feeling when I come here. I like it a lot," Kish said.

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Margaret Lorusso and Dolores Bertola said they come every week from Newtown for the summertime concerts and love the Sherman Green Gazebo.

"I love music, and I love dancing," Lorusso said. "It's a really good thing to have something like this. People come down and meet each other."

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Bertola, a former Fairfield resident, said the Sherman Green Gazebo "just stands out as a landmark" in downtown Fairfield. "It's a great meeting place because I meet all my friends I had in Fairfield," she said.

On July 25, the town will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Sherman Green Gazebo with a special performance by the Glamour Girls at 7 p.m. and a re-dedication ceremony. Centro Ristorante, which is next to Sherman Green, is sponsoring the Glamour Girls' concert.

Ken Dalling, a former member of the town's Parks and Recreation Commission, led the effort to construct the gazebo on Sherman Green in 1985 after he went to concerts in Cape May, N.J. that featured bands performing from a gazebo.

On Sunday evening, Dalling was enjoying dinner with friends and D'Agostino's music from the outdoor patio at Centro's, and D'Agostino, in between songs, called out to Dalling and wished him a happy birthday.

After dinner, Dalling said in an interview with Fairfield Patch that he got the idea to build a gazebo on Sherman Green when he was a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission. Dalling said he'd seen a gazebo in back of a shopping center in Cape May and wondered why Fairfield couldn't have a gazebo too.

Dalling said he approached the late Jacquelyn C. Durrell, who was the town's first selectman at the time, and Durrell agreed that setting up a gazebo on Sherman Green was a good idea.

The Sherman Green Gazebo was built with volunteer labor and materials, Dalling said. "It didn't cost anything to the town, nada. As far as materials and labor, it's all free," he said.

The summertime concerts at the gazebo, which Dalling said have been taking place since the gazebo was built, also are free, and more than 100 people set up lawn chairs to listen to D'Agostino's band Sunday night. The music was lively and broken only two or three times by sirens from emergency vehicles leaving Fire Station 1 and the Fairfield Police Department, which are both about 30 yards away.

In addition to free concerts on Sundays and during the week, the Sherman Green Gazebo also hosts the Parks and Recreation Department's "Peanut Butter Jam Sessions" aimed at the younger set.

Upcoming concerts at the gazebo, corner of Post and Reef roads, include "The Irish Stew Band" at 7 p.m. Wednesday; "The American Festival Band" at 7 p.m. Thursday; and a "Peanut Butter Jam Session" with Les Julian, a singer, songwriter, guitarist and entertainer, at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday (rain location is Penfield Pavilion, 323 Fairfield Beach Road.)

Dalling said the gazebo and summertime concerts have been a big hit with Fairfield residents, as well as residents from neighboring towns. "If you put a halt to it, they'll rebel. There'll be a petition. It worked out well," he said.


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