Penny Gross: Summer concert cutbacks are ‘heartbreaking’
Former Mason District Supervisor Penny Gross, the driving force behind the creation of the Spotlight by Starlight outdoor summer entertainment series, says it’s a “great disappointment” that the Fairfax County Park Authority has significantly cut back the number concerts this year.
There will only be eight Spotlight by Starlight concerts at Mason District Park this summer.
That’s down from 17 last year and a big drop from 2023 when there were concerts three evenings a week for a total of 31.
This year, the only concerts at Mason District Park are scheduled for Friday evenings, on June 26, July 10, 17, 24, and 31, and Aug. 7, 14, and 21.
Related story: Just eight concerts scheduled this summer at Mason District Park
There aren’t any children’s concerts scheduled at all at Mason District Park. Those shows, previously held on Saturday mornings throughout the summer, brought free live entertainment to many kids for the first time in their lives.
In addition, there will only be six international cultural heritage performances this summer at Ossian Hall Park in Annandale, down from 10 last year.
Gross calls the free summer concerts “the best thing we do as a community.”
“People bring their families; they bring guests. There is free admission and free parking. It’s only an hour, and it’s a perfect way to spend an evening,” Gross says. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to sample different kinds of music.”
It’s programs like this that bring a cultural experience to community members right here in Mason District.
The reduced schedule is a victim of the county’s budget cutting, which Gross likens to “cutting a tree down to a stump.”
“It’s really heartbreaking to see what we created reduced to a shadow of its former self,” she says. “We should be expanding, not reducing, the number of concerts.”
“In a $4 billion budget, the amount spent on summer concerts is like change on top of the dresser,” she says.
Related story: Fewer children’s shows and cultural concerts scheduled this summer
Mason District was the first district to have a regular program of summer concerts, which Penny Gross advocated for in 1985. The Spotlight by Starlight series was officially launched in 1987 but really got going in 1991, she recalls.
The cultural heritage nights at Ossian Hall Park – featuring music and dance from different countries – started in 2011.
Gross went to just about every show unless she was out of town, announced the performers from the stage, and reported back to the Park Authority on any issues, such as whether the group took too long to set up or the music was too loud.
Since a donation box was installed at the Mason District Park amphitheater, the Spotlight by Starlight concerts have raised about $4,000 to $5,000 a season for the Fairfax County Park Foundation, Gross says.
One of the things Gross is most proud of during her time as supervisor was rebuilding the amphitheater quickly after it caught fire from a lightning strike in 2004.
Now she plans to work on bringing the Spotlight by Starlight summer concerts back to a full schedule.