CALAIS – The Calais Rotary built the stage and two women put together the schedule.

This summer there will be “Music on the Green” – free concerts to be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays at the Triangle Park.

And what a lineup.

There will be everything from jazz to gospel, with some folk and country rock tossed in.

“It’s really been a community effort for years,” Britani Holloway-Pascarella of the Urban Moose on Main Street explained. “People have been so forthcoming.”

Calais City Manager Linda Pagels said the newly constructed stage was an important addition to the downtown.

“We have been building toward this type of activity with putting the infrastructure in place over the years, the green space, the open space the parking areas, the waterfront development,” Pagels said. “But to really bring the downtown back it takes more than just infrastructure; you’ve got to have that downtown activity.”

And that is what has happened.

For the past five years the Calais Rotary has raised money to build a stage in a corner of the park. That stage was completed last week.

Located between Hog Alley and Main Street, the wooden structure is the brainchild of Carl and Melissa Royer of My Favorite Things on Main Street.

Eventually the Rotary Club hopes to raise enough money to put a roof on the stage.

Holloway-Pascarella and Marilyn Bernardini of Bernardini’s Restaurant on Main Street were responsible for lining up the talent.

“Basically what we are trying to do is give back to the people who have been supporting us all year long,” Bernardini said. “And there is such a variety of people.”

Bernardini, who has been a businesswoman in the area for the past 18 years, said the concert was part of a new spirit that is very much a part of Calais.

“There is a positive feeling right now. For so many years there were negative feelings with people feeling nothing good was happening in Calais,” she said. “There are young people like Britani who are stepping up and taking the ball and running with it. That’s what we needed.”

But Holloway-Pascarella praised Bernardini and others for making the program a reality. Each concert is being sponsored by a local business. “I can’t tell you how many people have pitched in,” Holloway-Pascarella said.

And all of the entertainers, except for one, are local.

The concert tonight kicks off with Calais’ own Kyle Hardy Trio Jazz. Although Hardy now lives in Portland, he went to school in Calais.

Although Holloway-Pascarella guarantees good weather, the backup location in the event of rain is the nearby Downeast Heritage Museum.

‘Music on the Green’ series schedule

Concerts planned for the Music on the Green summer series are as follows:

July 5 – The Orange River Dixieland Jazz Band.

July 12 – Keltic Schmeltic, Irish music.

July 19 – Blue Eyes Trolls, country and rock.

July 26 – Dana and Susan Robinson, folk singers.

Aug. 2 – Black Socks String Band, folk music and fiddle tunes.

Aug. 9 – Pieces of String, fiddle music by young people.

Aug. 23 – St. Croix Worship Team, contemporary Christian music.

Aug. 30 – Live Bail, Celtic folk music.