Oneonta Comes Together for Town & Gown Gala

On November 9th at Foothills Performing Arts and Civic Center, a very special community event took place that helped bring healing and unity to the City of Oneonta. The Town & Gown Gala  was organized to bring together Oneonta's student and resident population after a rough start to the semester. The gala also aimed to bring comfort to both students and residents after a SUNY Oneonta student was critically-injured in an altercation last September, and the city faced a tragedy of their own after losing a beloved mayor in October. For the few hundred people in attendance representing both the town and the gown, virtually everybody walked away feeling a stronger sense of community--making the TGG a success!

What Made the Town & Gown Gala So Special?

There were multiple aspects about TGG that made it special for our city. First off, few events in Oneonta are like the TGG, which was alcohol-free and designed for the expressed purpose of bringing the two groups together while raising money for a community member in need.

Second, events of this size and scope where 7 bands perform and both colleges and multiple community groups participate, typically take months of planning. In the case of the TGG, the event was organized in one month because it was determined that, in light of the divisions the city was experiencing and the need of the injured student, if something was to be done, then the sooner the better.

Thirdly, the funding of the event made it unique. Since no one had the time to solicit donations and sponsorships, the event was made possible thanks to people, organizations, and artists stepping up and helping out because they were passionate about such an event taking place.

Oneonta is a Caring Community

Oneonta is a compassionate community that was saddened to learn about a student becoming injured last September. Therefore, when people heard about the fundraising effort, they were quick to support it. The support that Oneonta showed for student Tyler Gianacola is heartwarming and impressive. Over $800 was raised to help Tyler's family, and when it came time for the candlelight ceremony to talk about both Tyler and Mayor Miller, more than 150 people gathered in front of Foothills. At the ceremony, it was announced that over $500 was raised for Tyler and the crowd cheered. By the end of the following rock concert, the crowd cheered again when the donations grew to $800.

A Fun and Educational Social Mixer

The first two hours of the event was a social mixer that sought to bring together the community with education and entertainment. Various groups from both the colleges and the community were represented at tables, and several of the tables provided carnival-style games for kids. The games used tickets that could be redeemed for prizes like candy and toys, and even live goldfish were given away by OnMark, the SUNY Oneonta marketing club, as well as face painting provided by the SUNY Oneonta Student Advisory Council. Additionally, there was a drawing for a new television. To enter the contest, all one had to do was get twelve initials from the various tables. And to encourage people to socialize, the itinerary contained suggested icebreaker questions for people to ask one another.

As people got to know each other, there was live music featuring artists from both the town and the gown. Folk duet KJ Carney and Sky Miritello kicked off the gala with their sweet harmonies, followed by a set of acoustic blues from Heaven's Back Door. Closing out the social mixer portion of the gala was the upbeat and contemporary sounds of the student band Summer Symphony.

In between the performances from the bands were speakers from organizations raising awareness for social issues relating to the recent tragedies experienced by the community. Rebbecca Harrington from the Know Violence committee of SUNY Oneonta spoke about how violence affects everyone. Julie Dostal from LEAF spoke about the value of doing alcohol-free activities like the gala, and Donna Lange from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention educated the room about suicide.

The tone of the mixer was friendly and warm, and a big part of that was due to Abbey Koutnik in full clown apparel working the room with props and jokes. She even contributed wonderful balloon sculptures! 

A Warm Candlelight Ceremony 

The candlelight ceremony was the climax of the gala, with a large crowd showing up right before the candles were lit, almost doubling the crowd from the previous social mixer. The SUNY Oneonta Inter-Greek Council went above and beyond by organizing and running the fundraiser. Even though the wind and city code didn't allow for the use of paper lanterns like originally planned, they still managed to light enough candles during the ceremony to make it beautiful and memorable.

At the candlelight ceremony, Pastor Kaler Carpenter of The Redemption Movement spoke about how Tyler's injury personally impacted him and related the community's response to that of the Good Samaritan. SUNY Oneonta student and friend of Tyler, Nicole Jones, then read a prepared statement from Tyler's mother thanking the community for their support (Tyler was unable to attend the event due to his injuries).

Next up was Council Member Mike Lynch who reminded the crowd of both students and residents how much his friend Mayor Miller would have liked to have seen the community brought together like this. After a moment of silence was observed for Miller, Carpenter then invited everybody to file inside for a free rock show, and it wasn't long before the production room at Foothills was full of people waiting to hear the opening band Kardia.

The Foothills was Filled with Music

For the rock show, all of the bands played their hearts out and a sizable crowd stayed throughout the duration of the event. The room was full of positive energy as a crowd gathered around the front of the stage and clapped and cheered. During the music, people were having a good time as glow sticks were waived and people danced with balloon animal sculptures.  

Before Kardia played, G Winnard got the crowd warmed up with an upbeat selection of electronic music mixed with some sweet dance moves. Kardia then took the stage, opening their set with an intense drum-corps-style performance that teased the crowd with what they were about to experience.

Post by Kardia.

With the exception a cool Journey cover, Kardia played original songs that synched to an impressive light show.

There were three bands after Kardia, and two of them were student bands from SUNY Oneonta representing Red Dragon Records--Bray and Living Proof. Both bands were full of energy and had a harder sound that the audience responded well to. For Living Proof, the night was extra special; it was their first show and the message from lead singer Danny Cohen about not allowing substances to control one's life fit perfectly with the night's theme.

Post by Living.Proof.

In between the two Red Dragon bands was El Dred, a guitar and drum rock duo made up of Walton natives Ryan Eldred and Ben Ray. For El Dred's set, the crowd smiled got into it as Ryan's upbeat and catchy tunes commanded the attention of the room and got people dancing.

When the rock show was finished and the lights were flipped on, many from the crowd stayed afterwards to help with clean up, including students from the SUNY Oneonta service club Alpha Phi Omega who stayed until everything was put away. Overall, the gala was truly a remarkable event that was made possible because so many people were involved and helped out.


Click here to see Living Proof's First Set at TGG!      

TGG was a Turning Point for The Redemption Movement

For The Redemption Movement, the Town & Gown Gala was the biggest of many community events organized in the organization's brief history. An event like TGG was a natural progression of what a movement of kindness looks like. Pastor Kaler's approach to RM's outreaches has always been, "See a need, meet a need;" and after seeing the alcohol-fueled problems and risks associated with the city's downtown party scene, the strain that these problems were causing on community relations, and seeing tragedies like what happened with Tyler and Mayor Miller, stepping up to the microphone and attempting to meet such daunting community needs by organizing an event like TGG is a natural course of action for a church experienced in kindness and rock n' roll.

During Kardia's performance, guitar player Justin Wisner mentioned that this was the second time the Pittsfield-based band played Oneonta. Their first time was last December at The Redemption Movement to a much smaller crowd of 7 people. Throughout the evening, other artists shared similar stories about playing at the Ol' Storefront on River St. and working with Kaler to put on all-ages community rock shows. Many of these shows weren't well attended, and many community outreach efforts by RM have been done on a very small scale. Albeit, with each small show and small AoK, artists and people from the community walked away feeling loved and like they participated in something special. Therefore, when these artists, students, and community members who were reached with kindness by RM in the past were called upon to participate in a large-scale event like TGG, they did so without hesitation. In turn, hundreds of people were touched, which will lead to hundreds more being blessed--this is what a movement looks like.

Thank You

Raising $800 for Tyler is worth celebrating. It was cool to see Bray play to a large crowd after watching them grow as musicians and gel as band at small rock shows on River Street, and it was equally special to be able to provide Living Proof with such a special first show. KJ and Sky played one of the first shows at our church while it was still under construction and they're forever welcome at RM. Ryan and Ben are always such a joy to work with, and it was wonderful to make connections with new artists like Summer Symphony and Heaven's Back Door. I'm sure that we'll do more events together with our new friends in the future. 

A big thank you is in order to Bill, Sue, and Geoffrey at The Foothills Performing Arts and Civic Center for donating the space, to Council Member Mike Lynch for taking a chance on a young church planter, to Steve Perry, Vice President of Student Development at SUCO for his valuable input, to the SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick student senates and the City of Oneonta Commission on Human Rights and Community Relations for supporting and attending the event. Thanks to Chris at EveningWith Designs for his amazing graphic work, to OnMark for their above and beyond promotional efforts, Libby and Ian from AllOtsego.com for the excellent write up. Thanks to all the community groups that participated with a table, and last but certainly not least, thank you to the helpers from the Redemption Movement (Laura, Michael, Keith, Jeremy, Greg, Angel, Katy, and Garland), who's help made the entire event possible.

Because of the efforts of everyone mentioned in this blog article, along with others that didn't get mentioned (you know who you are), it truly feels like Onoenta is a stronger and more united community.

"Cheers to the Town & Gown Gala on Nov. 9. The event, which included activities and entertainment, aimed to help improve relationships between the city resident sand college students ....While the Gala won’t solve all the town-gown issues, we applaud the effort in trying to bring residents and college students together and encourage more opportunities like that." --The Daily Star, 11-18-14

More pics from TGG!

Post by The Redemption Movement.