By Joyce Kryszak
Buffalo, NY – Western New Yorkers will be getting some music mixed in with their art at next weekend's Allentown Art Festival. Goo Goo Dolls band member and Buffalo native Robbie Takac is launching the first annual Music as Art Festival at his Allentown recording studios. But the Allentown Village Society may not be welcoming the event with open arms.
There will be 36 local bands playing on three stages throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday. Some bands will be "framed" like a picture inside the window of Takac's Chameleon West Studios. Seven local artists will also have their work on display. And it's all happening at Franklin and Allen - one block from and at the same time as the annual Allentown Art Festival.
Takac says it will make the Allentown weekend bigger and better than ever. But art festival organizers says there's already enough to look at.
Sean Hill is a longtime member of the Allentown Village Society, the organization that has run the area's popular summer event for 46 years. He says they only learned about plans for the mega event last week.
The society called an emergency executive meeting Saturday and will have a full membership meeting Wednesday to discuss concerns. But he says they have little time and little chance of stopping the neighboring music festival or its potential problems.
Among their concerns are crowd control and congestion and possible extra insurance requirements and costs.
But Mark Hunt, chief engineer for Chameleon West, says they're been responsible in planning the event. He says Takac's goal with the added festival was to do something positive for the city. The bands will be recorded, with all proceeds from the CD sales being donated to Roswell Park and Camp Good days.
Even beyond that though, Hunt says Takac feels says the annual music event, in conjunction with the art festival, means even more of a good thing.
But the Allentown Village Society says that for them the experience will be one of turmoil and they scramble to ensure that the art festival is safe and successful.
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