Groups playing concerts in Mineola’s Memorial Park will have a new home this summer when the village’s new amphitheater opens there on Friday.
The new stage, built as part of a $2 million renovation of the park, will host six performances between this weekend and September and will create space for many other performances and events throughout the year, Mayor Scott Strauss said.
“These are the hometown things that we’re looking to do more of,” he said.
The amphitheater’s first guest at 7 p.m. on Friday will be the Cold Spring Harbor Band, one of the country’s most renowned Billy Joel tribute bands, joined by Richie Cannata, the saxophonist for the Long Island native. It will also host two performances by the Nassau Pops Orchestra in July, according to a village press release.
While it will not be totally complete when the village cuts the ribbon on the amphitheater Friday, its opening marks the final stages of a four-year project funded entirely by “development incentive bonus” payments from the developers of Mineola’s four new residential apartment complexes, Strauss said.
Strauss said other groups, such as local bands, drama clubs and the Mineola Memorial Library, will be able to use the amphitheater, likely increasing the amount of programs the village will host at the park off Jericho Turnpike between Marcellus Road and Saville Road.
The renovation started in 2012, when the village sought to rebuild Memorial Park’s gazebo after it sustained damage from Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy, Strauss said.
The village then started to look at other ways it could improve the park, he said, and ended up starting a makeover that has also revamped tennis courts, new handicap-accessible bathrooms, repaved walkways and new lights.
“It started to roll and roll and roll, and the park looks beautiful, and it didn’t cost anybody anything,” Strauss said. “There’s not a dime that came from anybody’s taxes.”
Mineola’s Village Board also allocated money in the 2016-2017 budget to increase security at all village parks.
Strauss and other officials have touted the development incentive bonus funds — payments the village receives from developers in exchange for special zoning exceptions — as a boon to the village that eases the burden on taxpayers for large projects such as this renovation.
Mineola has also revamped youth athletic fields, built a new park on Emory Road and purchased a firetruck and other emergency equipment with the money, meaning the village did not have to borrow or raise taxes to pay for them, Strauss said.
“People love them or hate them, but our (development) projects are helping us to revitalize our downtown and they’re helping us to redo our parks,” Strauss said.
Former Mineola Mayor John Colbert spoke critically of the projects in March’s Village Board election, but has praised the village’s use of development incentive bonus money.
The amphitheater is a welcome addition to the park where Mineola has held summer concerts since the mid-1980s, he said.
“It brings people together,” Colbert said. “It shows other people from the outside communities, as well as in Queens, that this is a nice place to live.”
Other Mineola summer concerts will include the Steel Silk Band on Aug. 6, the Homegrown String Band on Aug. 20 and the Nina Et Cetera Band on Sept. 17.
