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Elk Grove finalizes lineup for summer concert series

Elk Grove Village will spend $360,000 next summer to pay for six concerts on five nights featuring artists primarily from the 1970s and 1980s.

The lineup for the seventh annual Mid-Summer Classics Concert Series was finalized last Friday by Mayor Craig Johnson and promoter Murray Weiner and announced at Tuesday's village board meeting.

The artists scheduled to perform are: Kenny Rogers (July 4), Kansas (July 7), 38 Special (July 14), Travis Tritt (July 21), and two shows July 28 featuring Christopher Cross and Air Supply.

Planning for the concerts began in August at the conclusion of the 2014 concert series. Johnson says he starts every year with a wish list of dozens of bands, then narrows it down based on the availability of those performers.

The village is paying $310,000 and the park district contributing $50,000 to pay performers fees. While the park district's contribution has remained steady over the years, the village's amount has risen, from $260,000 this past summer and $80,000 the year before.

Much of the extra money comes from 1 percent of the village's 6 percent hotel-motel tax that had helped fund the Tour of Elk Grove bike race until it was discontinued in 2013. All of the village's cigarette tax revenues - a fee charged to businesses who sell cigarettes - and almost all of the gaming tax proceeds from video gambling are also used to pay for the concerts.

Corporate sponsors contribute additional funding to pay for insurance, fencing and banners.

"If you stay in an Elk Grove hotel, you smoke or you play video games in Elk Grove, we thank you because you're helping pay for the concerts," Johnson said.

The first concert on the Fourth of July will be held in conjunction with the Lions Club's annual festival and fireworks at Lions Park, 200 Rev. Morrison Blvd. The other concerts, scheduled for four consecutive Tuesdays in July, will be held at the Village Green, which is located between the Charles J. Zettek Municipal Complex, at 901 Wellington Ave., and the Elk Grove Library, at 1001 Wellington Ave.

Concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. and are free to attend. During the last concert, Christopher Cross is expected to begin at 7:30 p.m. and Air Supply at 9 p.m.

This past year's concert series had a total attendance of 60,000, and Johnson hopes to exceed those numbers next year.

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