The Excellence in the Community Concert Series, which presents local concerts in the Grand Theater, is branching out this summer.

Every Friday in July, the series will present a show in the Town Square Park on the corner of First and Main in Midway.

The performances are free and begin at 8 p.m.

In addition, local visual artists will display their creations.

The first show is July 2 with Melissa Pace Tanner and the Jay Lawrence Quartet doing the "Great American Songbook." (See accompanying story for performance schedules through July.)

Concert series founder Jeff Whiteley said the Midway Foundation for the Arts contacted him in March.

"They said they heard what we were doing through the Utah Arts Council and asked if we could bring our concerts up there for the summer," Whiteley said during an interview with the Deseret News.

"I said I'd love to, but it's a challenge trying to find funding to do what we want to do in these difficult economic times."

Then Ane Hatch, head of the Midway Foundation for the Arts, told Whiteley they would help.

Whiteley, who is also the founder/guitarist of the locally based jazz ensemble Lark & Spur, said the town of Midway and the Excellence in the Community Concerts are a perfect match, both artistically and philolosphically.

"Business leaders in Midway told me that people don't know what they have and they want to change that," Whiteley said. "The same can be said about the Excellence in the Community Concerts. We have wonderful talent here, and no one knows about them, and we want to change that.

"It's a common theme of undiscovered excellence," he said.

Midway's natural setting is the perfect place to perform and hear good quality music, Whiteley said.

"We're going to add music, music to match the mountains," he said.

If the Midway series succeeds, additional concerts will extend into August and eventualy turn into an art seminar, said Whiteley.

"It will continue once a month indoors during the winter," he said. "Our essential mission is to increase visibility of Utah's artistic resources and use them for economic development, community enhancement and motivate schoolchildren."

Whiteley's enthusiasm has bled into the local music community and reached the ears of singer and former Utah Jazz power forward/center Thurl Bailey.

"Jeff got me interested," Bailey told the Deseret News. "He's been so instrumental and diligent in trying to create a stage for a lot of the great talent in our state."

Bailey, who has been a professional singer for more than a decade, said he has performed and listened to "some fantastic artists that no one has ever heard of."

"A lot of Utahns don't really understand that there's a lot of talent here," he said. "If I can use my platform with my name and, hopefully, my talent to create some interest, people will get to know that Utah isn't just for coming to visit the temple.

"One of my goals as an African-American transplant is to show that Utah is very diverse," Bailey said. "I came from the D.C./Maryland area and have been here for the past 25 years. And I think people need to know how diverse Utah is becoming here in all aspects — people sports, music, dance, vacationers."

Still, Bailey knows it will take more than just he and Whiteley to change the perceptions of others.

"Jeff, me and the other folks involved can only get to a certain point," he said. "It's going to take the community to get something like this to succeed. It will take the help of corporate Utah and private funding from people who just love the arts to help us.

"And the help is not necessarily funding, but with interest. We need people's involvement and support.

"If the concerts work, I think they will be great treasures for years to come in the state of Utah."

If you go

Here is the schedule for the Excellence in the Community concerts that will take place at the Midway Town Square Park each Friday at 8 p.m. in July. All the performances are free and open to the public.

July 2: Melissa Pace Tanner and the Jay Lawrence Quartet, swing and pop

July 9: Smith Brothers Dirt Band, folk and bluegrass

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July 16: Red Rock Rondo, chamber folk

July 23: Caleb Chapman and the Voodoo Orchestra and the Little Big Band, big band swing

July 30: Thurl Bailey, rhythm & blues

e-mail: scott@desnews.com

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