Web marketer Romondo Davis and his wife love to go to concerts so frequently take advantage of the many free concerts offered in the St. Louis area. After frequent posts on Facebook about concerts they attended, a friend suggested that they start a website promoting them. So on June 6, 2012 while sitting in the Missouri Botanical Garden before a concert in the Whitaker Jazz Series began, Davis decided to see if the domain name FreeConcertsSTL.com was available. Using his I-Phone, he found that it was, and purchased it on the spot. Three weeks later on July 1, the website was launched.
FreeConcertsSTL.com has grown into a comprehensive listing of free concerts, fairs and festivals throughout the entire region year round. Users can search by date, venue, genre of music or location. The names of the performing groups are listed with links to their websites and those of the concert organizers. Currently there are 445 events on the site.
In addition to concert and festival information, Davis posts the many photos he takes at the events he attends. At this point, the site is a labor of love, but he is now seeking sponsors to insure it not only continues, but can expand.
“These free concerts that we attend and that we promote are all about community,” Davis said. “And when we can get out and interact with the people and the sponsors and the organizers and the bands, it’s great fun. And that’s what we really try to encourage – to get people out from behind their televisions watching reruns this summer and enjoy this vast amount of choices that we have, in beautiful venues, with local talent and enjoy it.”
Cityscape is produced by Mary Edwards and Alex Heuer, hosted by Steve Potter and funded in part by the the Arts and Education Council of Greater St. Louis, the Regional Arts Commission and the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.
