A few facts about “Music by the Sea” you may not know

As we were saying thank you and goodnight to patrons at our final Music by the Sea Concert I met a very nice couple who told me how much they enjoyed the concerts. They also told me it was “great of the County to put these shows on for free”. The couple was very surprised to hear that Music by the Sea was really created by The St Augustine Beach Civic Association over a dozen years ago.

Our organization could not have done this by ourselves. We are grateful for our relationships with the City of St Augustine Beach and St Johns County as well as the grant funding from the Tourism Development Council. We are even more grateful for the support of our patrons both local and those who visit our beautiful beach every summer. With all of that being said I felt it important to share what the Civic Association does to make this happen.

The Civic Association created and founded an open air Farmers Market many years ago. Over the years Arts, Crafts and other items were added and the venture became what is now known as The Wednesday Market. Proceeds from the operation of the Market go into the Civic Association’s General Fund. Those monies are then put back into the community in many ways including the production of the Music by the Sea Concert Series. Grants and sponsorships account for less than 40% of the actual costs of the concert series. The Civic Association foots the bill for the remainder of the costs of this program.

Here are some facts about the Civic Association and our programs;

• The Civic Association is operated entirely by an all-volunteer Board of Directors – no Board member is paid for his / her efforts
• Even though the concert series is a FREE event for the community, two years ago the County began charging us rent for the use of the Pavilion and this year added an additional charge for the use of two volleyball courts for seating. This year our rent was over $4100.
• The Civic Association pays an Independent Contractor to empty trash and clean restrooms during our concerts. This expense is just over $2000 a season
• The City of St. Augustine Beach graciously provides one police officer to handle traffic at the Pier Park entrance. The Civic Association pays for two police officers to walk the pavilion and event area during the concerts. This expense is just over $4000 annually
• The Civic Association implemented a Trolley program in late June that ran through the end of August to make attending the concerts easier for patrons. This expense was $2700 for the 12 week period

As you can see we’re at $13,000 and we have yet to talk about the cost of bands, sound system, liability insurance, and other costs associated with putting on a program of this scale. At the end of the day the FREE concert series really costs over $35,000 a year to produce. The Civic Association is happy to make this effort because it’s good for tourism and for our local community. We are planning on adding at least two extra shows in 2015 and hope to implement a trolley program that runs from the start of our season to at least the end of August. Stay tuned as we plan to have both our band and restaurant schedule in place by years end.

Save the Date – Saturday December 6th the Civic Association present another FREE program to the community. Join us at Pier Park for Surf Illumination from 3 until 7 pm. There will be food, drink, and entertainment featuring Holiday Season music, a bounce house, arts crafts and yes a visit from Santa. We will also be inviting the Mayor to throw the switch on the Holiday Tree. As usual we applaud the City Public Works Department for their great work on lighting up the palm trees in Pier Park and other décor on the Boulevard. Check our website for more details on Surf Illumination 2014

In closing we are pleased to announce the launch of our new mobile website. If you log on via your Android or I-Phone you’ll see our new user friendly mobile site that will give you information on the go about the Civic Association.