Thursday September 6, 2012

BRATTLEBORO -- "Brattleboro just can’t stop dancing," exclaimed Jerry Goldberg, executive director of the Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce.

Since that’s the case, people might as well dance for a good cause, which is what they’ll have a chance to do on Saturday night, when the Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce presents a community dance party called "Swingin’ at the Garden."

This benefit dance to kick off the chamber’s Swing Into Fall campaign takes place at the Robert H. Gibson River Garden at 8 p.m., featuring the swinging sounds of the Keene Jazz Orchestra, led by Scott Mullett and featuring local Brattleboro jazz players including Eugene Uman, artistic director of the Vermont Jazz Center.

"People will just be dancing the hearts out, and that’s what we want them to do," said Goldberg, who can’t wait to cut a rug or two himself inspired by the swing era music the orchestra will play. "I personally find swing music the most engaging music you could listen to, and the Keene Jazz Orchestra plays this music like nobody’s business."

Better yet, the beneficiaries are ... everybody’s business. Proceeds will go to a special fund set up as a resource for those businesses in downtown Brattleboro and other parts of town that are still reeling from the effects of Tropical Storm Irene.

The evening includes food and a cash bar. Guests are invited to make a donation

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to the special Irene fund. The suggested donation is $20, but nobody will be turned away.

This is the chamber’s second attempt to put on this event. Everything was in place last year for the early September "Free Community Dance Party" when, on Aug. 28, Tropical Storm Irene struck the area. The chamber cancelled the party. This year, the chamber, local business leaders and state representatives decided to revive the party to create a fund to help local businesses still bouncing back from losses that are "definitely seven figures," Goldberg said.

The "Swingin’ at the Garden" community dance party is the linchpin of the Chamber’s Swing into Fall campaign designed to build and maintain momentum from the summer tourist season through the fall and all the way to the holiday season. For information, visit www.brattleborochamber.org or call 802-254-4565.