New date for Stanley-Iris show revealed Monday

By WILLIAM K. ALCORN

alcorn@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Top-notch performers – Michael Stanley and The Resonators and Donnie Iris and The Cruisers – were booked and the community and thousands of ticket holders were stoked for the inaugural concert Saturday in the city’s newest downtown jewel, the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre.

But the weather forced other plans and the much-anticipated concert was postponed.

“At the end of the day, the chance of rain was 100 percent,” said Eric Ryan, president of JAC Management Group, which operates the amphitheater and the adjacent Covelli Centre for the city.

“We are typically a rain-or-shine show. But with the weather issues and the fact that Michael Stanley and Donnie Iris – because they are regional artists – is a show that can be rescheduled, the decision was made at about 10 a.m. Saturday to postpone,” he said. “Also, because the amphitheater is open and the concert was to be at night, we wanted folks to be able to enjoy themselves.”

The show was scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.

“It was a tough decision to call it that early, but all things considered, including thunderstorms forecast, we felt it was best to reschedule. We were able to notify most ticket buyers about the postponement,” he said.

Rain is in the forecast through late this week.

A flash-flood watch is in effect for the Mahoning Valley until late Monday.

Megan Ditton, director of marketing for Live Nation, said in a news release the concert was postponed “due to concern for community safety, based on the forecast of potential flash flooding, heavy winds and storms during the concert.”

Ditton said a new date for the concert will be announced Monday. She urged ticket holders to keep their tickets, which will be valid for the rescheduled show.

As it turned out, there was light rain at about 6:30 p.m. when concert-goers would have begun to arrive and steady rain during the time of the concert, but no severe weather during the scheduled time of the performances, said Ramel Carpenter, meteorologist with 21-WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner.

Though organizers were disappointed about the postponement of the Saturday concert, they were pleased with the free concert and open house Friday.

“We had a great night Friday, including perfect weather, with several thousand in attendance. It went remarkably well,” said Ryan.

Following a 5 p.m. ribbon-cutting, many of the visitors spent time looking around the $8 million outdoor facility in downtown Youngstown.

The amphitheater has been referred to as the centerpiece of the 22-acre park located near the Mahoning River from the South Avenue Bridge to just west of Hazel Street.

The amphitheater has a capacity of 5,000, including 3,000 on the ground and 1,500 in a seating area in front of the stage.

Saturday’s concert was to have been the first test of the adequacy of parking areas in the area of the amphitheater.