PANAMA CITY — Downtown Improvement Board (DIB) members are looking to take a page from the songbook of “Music City” on Panama City’s main drag.
During the Feb. 5 DIB meeting, business owners in downtown Panama City heard a proposal to embrace storefront and sidewalk music similar to “Broadway,” Nashville’s nighttime hotspot, by developing Harrison Avenue into “Music Alley.”
Jim Hayden, DIB chairman and owner of The Bagel Maker, said a grassroots movement to grow a partnership between local musicians and business owners would benefit both while promoting local music and attracting attention to downtown.
Hayden asked business owners in the DIB to consider allowing musicians to play for tips inside and in front of businesses a couple days a month to encourage activity downtown.
“Artists up in Nashville, they play music for the love of music — and also for tips,” Hayden said. “So they are not necessarily paid by the venues that they are in, but they are allowed to pass the hat; they are allowed to play on the streets with an open guitar case.
“So as you’re walking by you are basically listening to a musical menu of what strikes your interest,” Hayden said.
DIB members raised concerns of which styles of music would be compatible with certain businesses, whether copyright issues would arise in playing certain songs and whether the idea would conflict with the city’s law against panhandling.
Under the proposal, businesses would be able to dictate which musicians could perform at their shops. Likewise, musicians could agree or decline to play at certain businesses, Hayden said.
“On the musician side of it, the support is overwhelming,” he said. “The musicians want to help downtown. They love our downtown and they want it to grow.”
The DIB’s role would be hands off, allowing agreements to occur “organically” between musicians and businesses, according to DIB Director Dutch Sanger.
However, without a permit, not just anybody would be able to set up shop with their tuba and go to town anywhere at any time, according to Panama City Police Lt. Bruce Clayton.
“There is no panhandling in the city whatsoever and playing instruments for donations would not be allowed without a permit,” Clayton said.
City commissioners also are lobbying for a bill in the state Legislature that would designate “entertainment districts” along Harrison Avenue and areas of St. Andrews. The bill would allow patrons to leave bars and restaurants with alcoholic beverages during certain festivals.
Several aspects of “Music Alley” are still in a conceptual phase, but Hayden received DIB members’ approval to begin trial runs during the first week in April. Hayden was hoping to spawn a word-of-mouth campaign to gain momentum for the concept while addressing any other issues along the way.
“It’s not tacky. It’s not panhandling. It is legal,” Hayden said. “This is one of the things that would bring people to downtown, but we need action and we need commitment to a cause.”
