Live Music Returns to Munsinger Clemens Gardens This Weekend

(KNSI) – The Munsinger Clemens Botanical Society is bringing back its Music in the Gardens concert series this summer with the first performance scheduled for Sunday at 3 p.m.

“Seaborn is the group who will be playing this Sunday,” said Jill Florek, co-chair of the society’s board of directors. “It just makes for a nice afternoon in the gardens.”

The free outdoor concerts will take place at 3 p.m. every other Sunday this summer, occurring twice a month during June, July and August. Florek says most everything is back to a pre-pandemic normal: a musical group will perform on an outdoor stage near the Mississippi River, patrons can bring lawn chairs or blankets to sit in the grass and $2 root beer floats will be available — a Music in the Gardens tradition.

“The only thing is we’re going to just distance out our volunteers that serve them, you know, in keeping the social distancing in place,” Florek said.

The society had to cancel Music in the Gardens in 2020. Facing a planning time crunch this year, Florek says the board proposed bringing back musical acts that were booked for 2020 to play in 2021.

“We contacted them [on] the first of the year and actually asked them ‘Would you be able to play if this is going to go on,’ and got a verbal confirmation,” Florek said. “Then, we got them all set up and confirmed with agreements and whatnot.

Florek says volunteering is her favorite aspect of Music in the Gardens and says the botanical society is looking for volunteers to help sell root beer floats.

“We always have a sign-up sheet there or you can go online to our website or Facebook, and that talks about the volunteering for that,” she said.

In addition to Music in the Gardens, the Art Fair in the Gardens will come back in 2021. The daylong event happens on July 15th and will feature artists selling their work, food and beverage vendors and live music.

Munsinger Clemens Gardens Music in the Gardens Schedule: