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Sunset Beach pavilion contractor named
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Published: November 7, 2009
TARPON SPRINGS - By next February crowds attending monthly Sunset Beach music concerts should be able to enjoy watching its performances on the stage of a newly constructed open-air pavilion.
Tuesday night, city commissioners unanimously approved a bid by Hudson-based Rickey W. Cheeks Inc. to construct the pavilion, at a cost of $79,833.
The open-air pavilion will include concrete columns and a metal roof and will have stage lighting. It was designed by the Tarpon Springs-based firm Hoffman Architects.
It should take about 120 days to complete the pavilion construction, City Manager Mark LeCouris said.
"Everyone has waited so very long for this moment to come to fruition," Mayor Beverley Billiris said.
The pavilion would have been constructed sooner, but at the last minute the state told city officials they had to prove Tarpon Springs owned Sunset Beach. The city has maintained the beach area at the western end of Gulf Road since it was created in the 1920s on submerged land filled with dredged materials. The state usually asserts ownership of submerged land.
Once ownership was proven, the city received a state grant to pay for the pavilion.
The need for a pavilion stage has become increasingly evident with the growing popularity of the Music on the Beach series, according LeCouris. The city's recreation division and the volunteer group Friends of Music on the Beach put on the concerts, which are presented from February until November.
Fruits Real Estate Services, which has offices in Tarpon Springs and Hudson, sponsored the 2009 Music on the Beach series and will be back as sponsor in 2010.
This is not the first entertainment venue to adorn Sunset Beach. A much larger wooden building that included a snack bar was destroyed by a late-night fire in 1963. School dances, weddings and social gatherings were held at that pavilion.
Commissioners praised members of Friends of Music on the Beach for their dedication to providing entertainment that has become so popular. The pavilion will allow other public events to be held at Sunset Beach, the volunteer concert organizers told commissioners.
Mark Schantz can be reached at 727-815-1075 or mschantz@suncoastnews.com.
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