Enthusiastic crowd enjoys kickoff concert

Warm weather and a gentle breeze helped make the 2013 Dozinky Kickoff Concert a successful event Friday, July 12.

Attendance was down a bit from last year’s concert, but Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Kristy Mach said that it was a beautiful evening, “and we’re receiving positive feedback from those who did make it out and enjoyed the show.”

Martin Zellar and the Hardways was the featured performer. The group took the stage shortly after 9 p.m. and played until about midnight at an outdoor stage at Sliding Hill Skate Park, on Columbus Avenue east of New Prague High School.

Mach said she was talking to different people throughout the evening.

“There were two guys who were near the stage and I talked with them,” she said. “One of them grew up in Austin with Martin Zellar and they drove in from Sioux Falls, SD, for the show. They played golf, had dinner in town and stayed overnight at the Lexington Inn,” she said. “That’s exactly the type of story a Chamber director wants to hear.”

Not only was the weather pleasant for the concert, but it also cooperated in terms of cleanup. There was lightning in the distance, but crews finished up around 2 a.m., about an hour before a thunderstorm dropped four inches of rain on the New Prague area.

This is the second annual Dozinky Kickoff Concert. The event raises money for the chamber to assist with staging the annual Dozinky Festival in September.