Batavia plans groundbreaking on music pavilion

Plans to add a band shell to the Peg Bond Center on the Batavia Riverwalk have turned in to "The Peg Bond Pavilion."

A groundbreaking ceremony for the pavilion is scheduled to take place at 5:15 p.m. Sunday.

The ceremony precedes the annual "Celebration of Lights" on the Riverwalk, where choirs perform, Santa Claus arrives by fire truck and Mayor Jeffrey Schielke hits the switch for the lights on the city Christmas tree. Festivities start at 5:30 p.m. Santa will visit with children in the Bond Center until 7 p.m.

Construction starts in December with excavation, utility placement and foundation work. Planners hope to have it done by next summer.

The project is budgeted at $270,000, about $115,000 of which is being funded through major donations to the Batavia Parks Foundation. Six groups, businesses and individuals are sponsoring six of the shell's pillars, at a cost of $2,500 to $5,000 apiece.

Work will be done in part by volunteers overseen by Dennis Kintop of MIC Construction. Kintop supervised construction of the Batavia Riverwalk in the 1990s, much of which was done by volunteer labor over seven years.

The Bond Center was donated by the estate of Peg Bond, an art teacher. It is used as a warming house during ice-skating season at Depot Pond, and has hosted art exhibits.

Free summer concerts have been staged under its southern eave, which is where workers will construct the band shell.

To donate money to the project, or sign up to help build the pavilion, visit its-coming.org or e-mail volunteer coordinator Britta McKenna at britta4batavia@comcast.net. The effort also has a Facebook account, "Riverwalk Bandshell."