COVID-19 can’t stop the music: Rotary kicks off drive-in concerts; Zenbarn cleared to jam ’til Oct. 31

August 6, 2020  |  By Lisa Scagliotti

Barbie-N-Bones performs on the flatbed stage at Farr’s Field Thursday night at the first of three drive-in concerts hosted by the Waterbury Rotary Club. Shows are planned for the next two Thursdays. Photo courtesy Rotary/Barbie-N-Bones.

It’s not exactly a Thursday night concert in the park but tonight’s free drive-in concert at Farr’s Field is the Waterbury Rotary Club’s closest semblance to its popular summertime events with a 2020 pandemic twist. 

Billed as a “Concert in the Park...ing Lot,” tonight’s performance at Farr’s Field on U.S. Route 2 west of Waterbury village is the second live music event the club has organized this summer. Typically the club sponsors weekly Thursday night live music events at Rusty Parker Memorial Park downtown in conjunction with the Waterbury Farmers Market. But with the market suspended this summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on public gatherings to comply with public health protocols, the bandstand has been quiet this summer. 

Last month, the Rotary Club teamed up with Spruce Peak Arts in Stowe to present a mobile concert with Vermont rock musician Chad Hollister and two bandmates performing on a flatbed truck donated by Bourne’s Energy. The rig slowly toured downtown neighborhoods before parking at Pilgrim Park where the band played for an audience spread out near their vehicles. 

Tonight’s performance starting at 7 p.m. at Farr’s Field will have a similar vibe with the Bourne flatbed returning for rock band Barbie-N-Bones to perform. More information is online on the Rotary Club’s Facebook page and the ticket site. 

The Waterbury Select Board on Monday approved an entertainment permit for the event along with two more on Aug. 13 and 20. Performers booked for those dates are Jes and Jakob, and Yankee Chank respectively, according to Rotary organizers. 

As with other drive-in performances popping up around the region this summer, tonight’s event will be ticketed to keep track of capacity to comply with state guidelines. Tickets are per vehicle and they are free. Audience members will be asked to stay in or at their vehicles and to wear face masks. There will be no vendors or restrooms and attendees will be asked to pack out any trash they have. 

Concert-goers stay with their vehicles parked with space in between to allow for distancing. Courtesy photo.

Zenbarn performances navigate neighbors 

The return of live music to Waterbury was a popular topic at Monday’s Select Board meeting where the board also considered a request from Zenbarn on Guptil Road in Waterbury Center to continue hosting live performers under its tent into the fall. The restaurant and nightclub has set up the tent behind the barn in order to offer outdoor seating this summer as it opened to welcome patrons back following several months of closure due to COVID-19. 

State health regulations currently limit Indoor dining to half of a restaurant’s regular capacity. Town officials have relaxed requirements allowing restaurants to erect tents outdoors to expand their seating space and allow for distance between diners. 

Zenbarn is known for its live music indoors and its owners requested permission to have performances outdoors where diners would prefer to be. The Select Board spent a lengthy discussion period at its June 15 meeting to consider the request. Board Chair Chris Viens stepped aside from running the meeting in order to participate in the discussion. Viens lives close to Zenbarn and had strong concerns about noise from the venue if music was allowed outdoors. 

The board agreed to allow Zenbarn to have live music under the tent two nights a week until 9 p.m. for six weeks, with a condition that noise levels be monitored at the property line and not exceed 60 decibels. 

On Monday, Zenbarn owners Ari and Noah Fishman returned to ask that their permission for outdoor entertainment be broadened with more events allowed per week and extended into the fall.  

Viens again stepped aside to join the discussion and Vice Chair Mark Frier led the meeting for this item. Both Viens and his wife LeeAnne voiced reservations about having music continue outdoors while also saying they wanted to support Zenbarn. 

“We can hear it every night,” LeeAnne Viens said, acknowledging though that the venue was responsive when she’s called to say the music was too loud. “We want you guys to succeed,” she told the owners. “Can we do it month to month?”

The Fishman brothers explained that the window for outdoor entertainment -- a draw for people to go out to eat these days -- will close as the weather gets cooler. “We’re relying on entertainment to keep this business going,” Noah Fishman said. “Come mid-October, we can’t pay people to come to an outdoor show.”

His brother, Ari Fishman, was more direct. “These are extraordinary times,” he said. “We are seriously hurting right now. … It’s not like we want to do this, we need to.” 

Zenbarn has gotten approval to continue its live music shows under its outdoor tent through Oct. 31. Owners say the performances are a draw to get diners to stay and eat on site rather than order take-out. Courtesy photo.

And given the uncertainty of the pandemic, it is hard for business owners to anticipate what conditions will be several months from now. “November is slow anyway,” Noah Fishman said. “We’re trying to bank whatever we can right now. This is our time to make some money.” 

Ari Fishman noted that the artists Zenbarn books are also eager for the opportunity to work since so many music venues have not been hosting live shows since March. “That’s what they do for a living,” he said. “They don’t have a lot of options now, either. It's a serious thing for them, too.” 

Municipal Manager Bill Shepeluk and Town Clerk Carla Lawrence said they had not received any complaints regarding Zenbarn’s outdoor music to date which has been a bluegrass band on Thursday nights and one other night with single acoustic performers. The Vienses said they have called Zenbarn about the volume and the venue made adjustments. Noah Fishman said he thinks they have tinkered with their sound system enough now to accommodate everyone. “It feels like we really have got it figured out now,” he said. 

Chris Viens was somewhat ambivalent. “It wears on you,” he said of the music. “But I want to support my neighbors.”

In the end, a compromise was struck that appeared to satisfy everyone. The Select Board unanimously approved Zenbarn’s entertainment permit to have live music outdoors up to four nights per week through Oct. 31 with a condition that it will revisit the issue at its Sept. 8 meeting. The board also updated the venue’s indoor entertainment permit to extend through April 30.