If it goes through all the channels it needs to go through, there should be an outside bandstand within downtown Aberdeen in the near future.

For now, it’s an idea. It’s something that needs work to make it happen. It’s something the city could use because it would encourage more musicians and future musicians.

The good news for people who are working on it is there is support in order to make it happen. Aberdeen Mayor Doug Orr is on it. Orr explained why he thinks it’s needed.

“The grandstand thing, I’ve always wanted to put a park downtown,” Orr said. “You have to have a gathering place downtown that’s activated regularly to get people back to the idea of going downtown for entertainment. Also it plays into this third, I think it’s called third place.”

Orr was referring to “Youth Third Space.” In 2022, Grays Harbor County’s community health assessment, it “identified the lack of recreational and safe spaces for young people as a key gap.”

Orr spoke more about the need for youth third spaces.

“There used to be all these things for children to do after school and during summer vacation,” Orr said. “Most of those things have gone. Like the YMCA (of Grays Harbor) is considered ‘third space,’ where youth can go and be safe from being attacked or harassed, and their parents know that they’re safe when they’re there. That’s what third space is, it’s trying to create more of these places where youth can go and feel safe.”

Orr said he’s been working with an Aberdeen High School student for something called “Jazz Jams.”

“They want to set up a spot and host other groups who might want to go and play with him,” Orr said. “That is one of the focuses I thought that could be a key component to this stage downtown. It’d be activated for World Music Day and other events that happen downtown that have a band. (They) would now have a bandstand that’s covered to protect the instruments. And those kids could still meet there every Wednesday, or whatever day they choose to have their jazz jam downtown.”

Orr said he wants to set up a space inside the Aberdeen Art Center so the students can meet, to give them a “third space.” And Orr, who owns Aberdeen Art Center, wants to provide the space for free.

The area, which hasn’t been approved by several channels yet, would be in the heart of downtown Aberdeen.

Orr said there have been plans to build a park downtown “for a while.” The plans were originally intended to hold the Critters — the animal creatures pedestrians can spot as they walk past many of the intersections throughout downtown Aberdeen. Orr said there was a professional who was brought in to come up with a design to put a park to hold all of those critters so “they could all be in one spot and monitored.”

Contact Reporter Matthew N. Wells at matthew.wells@thedailyworld.com.