The Harpswell Bandstand by the Sea concert series will return to Mitchell Field on July 3, kicking off another summer of live music and community gathering. The bandstand will host weekly performances at 6 p.m. each Thursday through August, as well as a special Sunday performance to recognize local volunteers.
The season will feature many returning artists, such as Erica Brown and the Bluegrass Connection and Pat Colwell and the Soul Sensations, as well as one newcomer to the bandstand, Unfinished Blues Band.
Made up of bassist Troy R. Bennett, drummer Dean Clegg, and guitarist Rob Babson, Unfinished Blues Band describes itself as “an American, roots-rock, blues band.” The three friends started the band when they were teenagers in 1980s Maine. Thirty years later, they came back together to keep playing.
The Harpswell Concert Band will play three concerts this summer, including the volunteer appreciation performance on Sunday, Aug. 17.
“What we want to do is to use the theme of the Bandstand by the Sea as a unifying presence in our community,” said Bill Muldoon, chair of the Harpswell Bandstand Committee.
When picking acts for the summer series, Muldoon said the committee looks for those with broad appeal in order to attract and please its audience — an audience that is growing every year.
The series costs about $10,000. The town spends $3,000 to maintain the venue, but the committee raises the rest from donations and events. In May, it raised $5,000 with a silent auction at the Orr’s Island Schoolhouse.
The series also has sponsors. This year, they are Bath-Brunswick Respite Care, Harcourts Waterfront & Fine Properties, and Welltree.
The 2025 series will see the return of the Portland Jazz Orchestra, which hasn’t played the bandstand for several years; and local blues-rock band Sons of Quint. The latter frequently rehearses in Harpswell, at a Dyer’s Cove barn owned by one of its members.
The Joan Kennedy Band also will return to the bandstand, a modern country band with blues, funk and pop influences headed by four-time Country Music Television award winner Joan Kennedy. Primo Cubano will bring Cuban music to Mitchell Field.
Muldoon said people have come to see Thursday evenings as a time to gather at the bandstand, regardless of the act.
Bandstand by the Sea concerts are free, although the committee accepts donations in its “Johnny Cash box.”
