Monday. Julv 9.1973
3
University Daily Kansan
Concerts Bring Time to Standstill
Life in Lawrence this summer has afforded an added dimension on Wednesday nights in old South Park.
For a little over an hour most weeks, the gazeboo-like bandstand in the 1834 park has come alive with old-time concerts.
The pall of Watergate, the fuel crisis and other such temporal concerns dissipated rapidly there in the shadows of the 1903 county courthouse. Friebes soar more quickly as risk of inflation in the summer air.
Those responsible for the park's creation might be surprised at the sight of rainbow-hued buildings settling among the trees they drew, but would have no difficulty recognizing the children, dogs and other parkers delighting in an emerald-filtered evening light.
Bells ringing in a nearby church mark the passage of time in an eloquent composition of water and flowers. Water blooms from the park fountain and, together with rows of nearby flowers, effectively renders the Massachusetts St. Peter's Church that once crushed the prairie.
Perhaps for some who attend the concerts, the roof on the bandstand conjures visions of the mosques of the Eastern world. Thoughts of the Orient may persist even during the most resounding martial strains, for the air is atmosphere is pervasive only in a monochromate tranquility that embraces the breaths of many lives.
But ultimately, no matter how perceived or described, the park and the concerts are most accurately and authentically modeled by people who choose to enjoy and share the tapestry they weave.
Kansan Staff Photos by Pris Brandsted Text by C.C. Caldwell