MAYVILLE – Inspired by Westfield’s First Friday celebrations, concerts in Mayville are going to be different this year.

In the past, the Chamber of Commerce has sponsored an eight-week concert series at Lakeside Park on Thursday nights.

“We would bring in a local act. It was a nice event at a great setting being right there by the lake, but we found that it was servicing the same 30-50 people every week,” explained Brian Pender, the president of the local chamber.

Pender said they wanted to get the concerts to drive traffic to local businesses. They invited food trucks, had a business spotlight, and gave away gift certificates, but had limited success.

“It wasn’t driving the appropriate amount of traffic for the chamber members,” he said.

Because of this, the chamber is going to have three concerts in 2025 in the Village Green in the uptown park.

“We’ve kind of proposed this larger scale, First Friday style concert that we’re hoping to pull off,” Pender said.

Westfield has received permission from the state to shut down a portion of Route 20 during its First Friday celebrations. At this point, Pender said it’s too late to get permission to shut down Route 394, although that is a possibility in future years.

The three concerts in Mayville will shift from Thursday to Wednesday nights. They will take place June 18, July 16 and Aug. 13.

The hope is the new night will attract more people.

“When we looked at the community event calendars, and then the schedule for the local businesses … Wednesdays seemed to be the best fit,” Pender said.

Pender said the three concerts that will be performing this year will be regional acts and known outside of the village.

An announcement of the bands will be made at a later date.

Food trucks will be invited. Pender said businesses will be encouraged to be open, even if they are normally closed Wednesday nights. There may be some sidewalk sales as well.

“We’re trying to drive traffic to the businesses, as opposed to Lakeside Park being so isolated,” he said.

Both the Mayville Village and Chautauqua Town boards agreed to spend $2,000 each for the new concerts.

At the Mayville Village Board, officials seemed hesitant at first. They approved the new concession dates, but originally did not vote to approve the funds.

At the end of the meeting, officials said they wanted more information before approving the funding.

Pender said the chamber is increasing its focus on “events that meet the mission of vital connections” and felt that the Lakeside Park concerts struggled to generate an increase in foot traffic to local businesses.

After the discussion, which lasted for about 15 minutes, the village board unanimously approved the funding resolution after originally declining to vote on it.