Free event is spread across three venues: Tavern, Park and The Cave

By Elmer Ploetz

As Dwane Hall says, not every business lasts 40 years. And when it does, it’s time to celebrate. 

That will certainly be the case Saturday (Aug. 30) when the Sportsmen’s Tavern complex puts on a three-venue 40th anniversary celebration at the Tavern, The Cave and Sportsmen’s Park. The event will run from 3 to 11 p.m., and admission is free – although you will need to get a ticket to attend. 

The list of performers includes people from throughout the history of the Tavern since Dwane and Denise Hall bought that historic bar on Amherst Street in Black Rock back in 1985. 

The night will wind up with Dwane Hall and the Twang Gang performing a set at 8:30 that will feature many of the vocalists featured throughout the day. 

Some of the  bands are reassembling just for this show, playing their first shows together in years.  Here is the schedule for Saturday (although it is still subject to change).

• Wilcox Mansion, Sportsmen’s Park, 3 p.m.
• The Informers, Sportsmen’s Tavern, 3 p.m.
• Alison Pipitone Band, The Cave, 3:30 p.m.
• Steam Donkeys, Sportsmen’s Park, 4 p.m.
• The Shadows, Sportsmen’s Tavern, 4:30 p.m.
• The Morvells (with Gretchen Schulz), Sportsmen’s Park, 5 p.m.
• Mark Hitchcock & Friends, The Cave, 5:30 p.m.
• Rex Hobart/Jim Whitford, Sportsmen’s Park, 6 p.m.
• Joe Baudo Jazz, Sportsmen’s Tavern, 6 p.m.
• John & Mary and the Valkyries, 7 p.m.
• The Twang Gang, with special guests, Sportsmen’s Tavern, 8 p.m.
  And the list includes an “& More,” of course.

“Forty years is a long time for any business to be in business, and we wanted to do kind of a  customer appreciation thing,” said Hall, “we could give something back to the people for all their support for all the years. And we thought maybe just having a free show and seeing how many bands as we could get together would be the way to go.”

That’s an understated way of saying it’s a spectacular lineup, particularly for country/Americana/roots music. 

Kitchens will be open at both the Tavern and The Cave, and one of Hall’s friends will be doing barbecue. 

Hall said that things have come together over the past 40 years in ways that he never foresaw. It’s been an organic process. 

“We’re always trying to make the music cool in Buffalo, and trying to make it a community kind of thing,” he said. “Our foundation  (the nonprofit Sportsmen’s Americana Music Foundation) is going very well, and the Music Hall of Fame (which has a space just down the street from the Tavern)  is doing well, and the Blues Society is part of what we’re doing now. So we’re pretty excited about it all. I mean, how can you  plan to put that together? You just can’t drop a business plan to say ‘this is what we’re going to do.’”

Hall has been the face of the Sportsmen’s for those 40 years (“people always tell me that, especially you old guys who have been around for years,” he told this writer), but he said his three sons have been stepped forward into leading roles — and Hall is 71 now. 

“I’m extremely excited and thankful that they want to be part of it,” he said. “Because actually, what they’ve done is follow my dream to keep the music alive.”

So Saturday will be a chance to celebrate many things. The Sportsmen’s Tavern. The Western New York music community. The Hall family.