Coney Island’s Free Seaside Summer Concerts Likely To Return This Year
After a one-year hiatus following the departure of term-limited Borough President Marty Markowitz, it looks as if the Brooklyn Borough President’s office under Eric Adams will resume hosting the annual free Seaside Summer Concert Series in Coney Island this year.
The news was first reported by The Coney Island Blog, which said the shows will return to the West 21st Street lot near the planned site of the Seaside Amphitheater.
Despite the report, official word from Borough Hall on the concerts is that it’s in the works, but not yet finalized.
“It is my desire to see the Seaside Summer Concert Series return to Coney Island this summer. We have been working with the organizer and relevant parties to finalize details on this important community effort. I look forward to the official announcement of the final determination that we can announce in partnership shortly,” Borough President Adams told this outlet.
Though the Borough President hosts the event, it is not organized by Borough Hall. The organizer, officially known as the Seaside Summer Concert Series, is similarly circumspect about the concerts going forward this year.
“We (the not-for-profits) that produce the concerts ..will have an announcement in the next few weeks regarding the coming season of the Seaside Summer Concert Series and the Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series,” Seaside’s head, Debra Garcia, wrote to Sheepshead Bites.
According to the beep’s office, the non-profit decided to hold off on the event series last year, not his office as was reported.
The Seaside Summer Concert Series organization declined to comment on that matter.
The concert series has been running for 35 years, the last one held in 2013, drawing stars including John Legend, Joan Jett, Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin and others. It was long held at Asser-Levy Park, it moved to West 21st Street in 2011 after controversial plans to build an amphitheater at the park’s location spurred lawsuits that enforced sound laws at Asser-Levy. The venue plans eventually moved as well, and construction is now under way to turn the Historic Childs Restaurant building adjacent to the boardwalk into a concert venue.