John Taylor is the founder of the series in Galva. He first came up with the idea for a class project in 2017. After some encouragement from his wife, he organized the first summer music series in 2018.
"There's 18 cities that are actually going to be part of this multi-year program. These are cities that have gotten it over the course of several years now and they are still doing some of the one year grants. But we don't have to compete this year."
Taylor says the year over year support has allowed the series to develop a permanent stage, an access road, and parking.
"Now we know that we have the grant, and that allows us to really plan, whereas in the past, it was a really tight schedule that we were working under. Normally we wouldn't know if we were going to receive the grant until the first of the year."
The grant will support the summer concert series in Wiley Park in Galva for the next 3 years.
Similar grants were also approved for Springfield, Illinois and Earlham, Iowa.
