Second annual Battle of the Bands returning to Greenport

After the success of last year’s inaugural Battle of the Bands, the Village of Greenport will be welcoming musicians back to the stage for the second annual installment of the Labor Day event. The evening is presented by the village’s Dances in the Park committee.

“Last year was great. There was a big crowd, and I think that everybody loved it,” said committee member Andrea Malinowski. “All of the bands were excited to play.”

Like last year, four bands will take the stage in Mitchell Park from 6 to 9 p.m. The audience will again help crown the winner of the “battle.” There will be an “applause meter” to measure if people were dancing, cheering, shouting or taking part in any other form of engagement. There will also be a judging panel to confirm, but the audience will account for much of the scoring. 

The village’s American Legion Hall, at 102 Third Street, will serve as a green room for the bands playing. It will also be a potential backup venue for the evening if the weather doesn’t hold up.

The first two bands battling it out will be Daydream, a rock and pop group, and Swann Live, who play some R&B and soul tunes. They will be followed by Seismatics, who bring some high-energy rock, and Sweet Ride, who play some rock and roll, country, blues and more. Sweet Ride also performed at last year’s installment. 

The Dances in the Park committee puts the jam-packed battle together, and they get a little help, too, from local interns.

“We opened up a way for us to have student interns working in the village, doing academic-related projects,” said Ms. Malinowski. “Last summer, just for ‘Battle of the Bands,’ we had a couple of interns for that day to be PA assistants. That worked great, and so this year, the goal was to have interns start with us.”

This year, the group has three interns — two in high school and one in college. One of the projects they worked on was to build a social media campaign for the group. The college intern was tasked with somehow finding a way to have more engagement between the crowd and the local businesses. They found a way, and it’s now known as “Groovin’ through Greenport.”

“The college intern’s assignment was to come up with a way for there to be engagement between the crowd that comes on Monday night and the rest of the businesses, just coming and visiting and enjoying Greenport during the rest of the weeks throughout summer,” said Ms. Malinowski. “We came out with ‘Groovin’ through Greenport,’ and it was a way for us to encourage the crowd to come back to Greenport during the week and shop, dine and enjoy.” 

The way it worked is that, over the past few weeks, when someone shopped or dined in the village, they either received a virtual stamp or showed a committee member, and they were given a raffle ticket. The prize for the tickets was a picnic blanket with the committee’s branding on it. Those who have accumulated six raffle tickets will be placed into the grand prize drawing, which will take place during Battle of the Bands.

The grand prize will be an assortment of gift certificates and products from local businesses, valued at over $600.