'It's fun to be part of something that everyone loves': Pine City Arts Council members share behind-the-scenes look at Art in the Park

Pine City's Art in the Park will kick off its season with music from the Pine City High School jazz band on May 22.

With the summer concert series fast approaching, Adrienne Roubinek and Steve Wilson from the Pine City Arts Council joined WCMP for an interview on March 27 for a behind-the-scenes look at the nonprofit that's brought live music to Robinson Park since 1987.

Roubinek has been part of the Pine City Arts Council since its inception in 1977, when the organization started off with a budget of $1,000 from Pine City Community Education.

"From there, it just grew and grew," Roubinek said. "And now, we're providing 12 weeks of summer entertainment in the park for free."

Roubinek explained that Art in the Park started as a one-year trial in 1987.

The inaugural series was a shorter one — opening at the end of May and ending after Art Fest on the third Saturday in July — and positive public reception prompted an eventually expanded slate of shows.

"People just begged and begged us to continue on through August, so we do that now, and our last show this year will be Aug. 14," Roubinek said.

When concerts wrap up for the summer, that's when conversations begin about the next season's slate of artists — often, Wilson said, as soon as the week after the last band takes the Robinson Park bandstand.

"We're getting to be a bit of a destination for some bands, which is kind of our goal," Wilson said. "So we kind of have a list of bands who are waiting to come and play here, and most of them want to come back, so we wind up having to make some hard decisions sometimes, because you get to know these people and they all want to participate."

The Pine City Arts Council can't sign contracts with artists until Jan. 1, so Wilson said late August through the end of the year is spent negotiating with artists.

"It's a lot of back-and-forth," he said. "We are really trying to keep things a variety."

The booking process is a balancing act for the arts council, a group of volunteers tasked with threading the needle to not repeat genres and navigate concertgoer demographics in an effort to feature "something for everybody."

"One of the first things we recognized we needed to do was appeal to a younger age group without alienating our core audience, which was older, and that's really common everywhere at music-in-the-park programs," Wilson said.

Some bands are staples: The high school jazz band kicks off the summer festivities, Whitesidewalls always play the Friday of Freedom Fest, and The Neighberz Band has been the Art Fest act for "several years now."

"Beyond that, we repeat if the crowd kind of demands it," Wilson said. "But we'll only do that so long; we want to try new stuff."

The Pine City Arts Council takes a boots-on-the-ground approach to gauging audience response — Wilson said Roubinek can often be spotted milling through the crowd on summertime Friday nights, and keeping an eye out for spectators on the sidewalk across the street from Robinson Park.

"For instance, we had Chris Kroeze for several years, and quite honestly, we finally had to make a hard decision that we've got to make room for someone new, but the crowd that he would get there and bring some of them too, just thunderous applause and cheers and things like that," Wilson said. "We watch that."

Wilson said that even if it's a night where he can't watch the entire concert, he'll ride his motorcycle around the block to see how the artist sounds from the street.

"We have a video of some guy who was riding his motorcycle by, stopped, and just hung out," Wilson said.

"And danced on the sidewalk," Roubinek added with a laugh.

"There's definitely curb appeal to this, too," Wilson said.

Members of the Pine City Arts Council also scout potential acts to bring to the bandstand, whether virtually or in-person.

Some of those trips include predictable destinations, like the DNR building at the state fair (Roxxy Hall, playing June 12) or Anoka. Others are more serendipitous, like catching a band while on vacation in Pennsylvania and discovering the band on stage was from Rochester, or finding the Alaskan String Band on a cruise and booking the group while on the Midwest touring circuit.

Wilson found the Holy Rocka Rollaz, who will make their sophomore appearance at Robinson Park on June 5, at the Surf Ballroom on a visit to Clear Lake, Iowa.

"You find it everywhere," Wilson said.

Wilson's odyssey with the Pine City Arts Council started on the Art in the Park stage, playing with his primary band Freeway Jam (an institution since 1998) and Rex Cactus, a longtime country band from Wilson's native Frederic area.

"A couple of my bands have played Art in the Park, which I began to realize was Adrienne greasing the skids to get me on the committee," Wilson joked.

Roubinek said that Wilson's experience and connections as a musician have been a big plus for the council: In 2025, when they needed to find a band in a pinch, Wilson was able to reach out to Ethan Schmidt (Kroeze's bassist), about the availability his three-piece Tucker Baker Band.

According to Wilson, people "wanted them back big-time," so the Tucker Baker Band is slated to play Robinson Park on July 10.

Wilson said he played in three different Art in the Park concerts, and half-joked that the quality of music the arts council books has outstripped his "local bar band."

He chalked that quality of entertainment — "elevating to a level I wasn't going to get to anyway — as a key reason for Art in the Park's growth.

"It's becoming a destination for surrounding communities, and that's really what we want it to be," Wilson said. "And we're getting there. Just come every Friday night, it's always going to be good."

Roubinek said that the popularity of the shows can create some unique challenges to accommodate space on the south side of Robinson Park, but the arts council has 'never" had a conversation about uprooting the venue and relocating.

The Pine City Arts Council has two openings on its 12-person board, and Roubinek encouraged residents to reach out if they're interested in joining.

"We get along," Roubinek said. "There's no disagreements. Most people just love us because we bring them wonderful entertainment all summer, so there's no big controversy, and on the arts council, I do think we get along pretty good."

The 501(c)(3) nonprofit board is composed entirely of volunteers.

"While we're a local civic organization, we're not part of the city, we're not part of the county, we're not part of any of that," Wilson said. "We have to work with them, and they help us, but we're a separate entity that operates independently."

Wilson and Roubinek agreed that it takes the whole community to make Art in the Park successful.

Funding for the concert series comes from a grant from the East Central Regional Arts Council, Pine City, Walmart, East Central Energy, Pine City Community Education, Kwik Trip, Frandsen Bank & Trust, New Horizon Thrift Store, Pokegama Lake Association, Blaze Credit Union, and the Pine City and Rock Creek Lions Club organizations.

"We're careful and prudent with every single penny, so that their money is well spent and not wasted at all," Roubinek said.

The arts council also has a standing agreement with the Pine County Fair Board to use the event center in case of rain, and with Arrowhead Transit to offer free rides to the concerts.

A lineup of area nonprofit organizations and service groups also offer food on Friday nights, and Roubinek said Pine City eateries open in the evening also make for good picnic options.

"We have a great thing going here in Pine City every Friday night in the summer," Roubinek said.

Last year, Roubinek and the Pine City High School class celebrating its 50-year reunion planned the event around the Disco Kingz performance.

Wilson said Art in the Park touts artists that Pine City residents would likely have to travel to see otherwise, and the acts that bring folks together at the bandstand foster community spirit.

"It's fun to be part of something that everyone loves," Roubinek said. "It's fun to see young families on blankets with their babies, and to see senior citizens in their wheelchairs tapping their toes. It's a big draw for all ages, and we're just happy to do it."

For the full lineup and schedule of 2026's Art in the Park concert series, click here.