(GLEN COVE, N.Y.) - The shows will go on in downtown Glen Cove - but from a distance.
Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D - Glen Cove) visited Glen Cove’s downtown restaurant district on Friday, July 24 for the first night of the Virtual Downtown Sounds concert series. This year, to preserve appropriate physical distancing in accordance with COVID-19 prevention protocols, the Glen Cove Downtown Business Improvement District (BID) is livestreaming concerts onto large screens placed at the intersection of School Street and Highland Road, School and Glen Streets and midway between School and Pulaski Streets.
The large television screens are intended to enhance the downtown dining district for restaurant patrons. BID officials stress that large gatherings remain prohibited under current COVID-19 prevention protocols, and that anyone wishing to watch the concerts on the downtown livestream screens can do so only by making a reservation with their favorite restaurant. Music lovers not dining downtown can tune in on the Glen Cove BID’s Facebook page, located at https://www.facebook.com/Glen-Cove-Downtown-BID-126962583987858/.
Legislator DeRiggi-Whitton is also in the process of securing a $10,000 grant from the County’s Hotel-Motel Occupancy Tax fund to support the concert series. A final vote by the full Nassau County Legislature to approve the grant is expected on Monday, Aug. 3.
“While Downtown Sounds has persevered through many challenges during its nearly quarter-century run to bring outstanding entertainment to Glen Cove each summer, they have never faced a hurdle like the COVID-19 pandemic,” Legislator DeRiggi-Whitton said. “Thanks to their spirit of creativity and ingenuity, Downtown Sounds continues to bring smiles to countless faces and stimulate our local economy at a time when it is needed the most.”
More than 12,000 people attended Downtown Sounds concerts each summer, and more than 50 bands from across the country apply to perform, according to Glen Cove Downtown BID officials. The series began as Jazz in the Square in 1997.
“We are so grateful to Legislator Delia DeRiggi Whitton and Nassau County for their continued support as well as the partnership that the BID has with the City of Glen Cove in producing this concert series,” Patricia Holman, Executive Director of the Glen Cove Downtown Business Improvement District, said. “During these unprecedented times, we have had to recreate the way we do business and certainly how we produce concerts. I am thrilled that our Downtown Sounds committee was up to the challenge so that we are able to offer downtown diners a little taste of Downtown Sounds through our live virtual concerts.”
PHOTO CAPTION - Patrons enjoy dinner and a show during the first night of Virtual Downtown Sounds in Glen Cove on Friday, July 24.
PHOTO CREDIT - Photo by Peter M. Budraitis