Let’s do it again! Next year. Stage it in the same area or, perhaps, in a different location.

The four-session first Ilderton Beach Music Blast in the City Project’s Uptowne High Point neighborhood was so successful at (1) getting people involved, (2) demonstrating what kind of draw can be sustained and grown as a neighborhood is revitalized and (3) raising much-needed funds for the Children’s Home Society of North Carolina, which currently has 3,000 children in foster care awaiting/hoping for permanent homes.

Dorsay Eichhorn, a High Pointer who serves on the CHS board, indicated the four sessions drew some well over 6,000 people, even though one of them had to be held indoors because of inclement weather. Photographs of the crowds at the concerts and comments by those who attended were most complimentary. In short, the Beach Music Blast was a big hit. Kudos to Ilderton Chrysler Dodge Jeep for stepping up as primary sponsor and to the eight other sponsors (which included the city of High Point), as well as the four bands – Legends of the Beach, The Part Time Party Time Band, Band of Oz and The Embers – for making this first attempt by the City Project to focus on Uptowne so memorable.

Why even suggest, should the Beach Music Blast come back to High Point next year, that it be scheduled for another location? It would allow the City Project folks to put the focus on another of the eight neighborhoods for which it is attempting to build revitalization partnerships. The Beach Music Blast is a terrific way to get buy-in to what the City Project can produce at the grass roots level.

Let’s do it again!