The Morning Call Reports:
A music venue touted as a "crown jewel" for the Poconos when it opened looks like it will observe its 10th anniversary this summer by again being shuttered, with no concerts scheduled.
Mountain Laurel Performing Arts Center in Lehman Township, Pike County, without fanfare broke ties with the second management agency it has had in two years and, for the third time in its history, has closed the venue, with few prospects for activity this summer.
The most recent manager, Christopher Perrotti of Rhode Island, confirmed in an email that he was let go in August. He said he believes that the center's owners "have closed it down, which is not good for the venue's future."
A woman who answered the phone at O'Neill Properties Group of King of Prussia, Montgomery County, one of the center's owners, referred questions to a spokesman who did not respond to a telephone message left for him.
The center's website — http://www.mtlauelpac.com — has not been updated since the close of last season, and its telephone number is answered by an automated message referring callers to the website.
Perrotti said he has been "trying myself to reopen with a group" from his native Rhode Island, "but with no luck."
Perrotti came to the center with 25 years of experience in the concert/festival and hospitality business — 15 of those operating Newport Yachting Center, which he said is the largest outdoor festival venue in Rhode Island.
His departure comes after a season of 10 shows — the busiest season in its history, including concerts by Peter Frampton, Lyle Lovett, Robert Cray and Little Teat, the Temptations, the Guess Who, Ziggy Marley and a combination bill of Edgar Winter, Rick Derringer, Johnny Winter and Leslie West.
But attendance at the shows was lower than expected, with some drawing less than 500 people — even after the venue's lawn seating was closed and it was operated as a 2,500-seat indoor venue rather than a 10,000-ticket facility.
That abbreviated season was announced March 1, 2012, and even then Perrotti said the start was too late for a full season.
It was the second year with disappointing sales. Perrotti was hired after another agency — Total Concert Team, which also then directed the Bergen Performing Arts Center in New Jersey — completed a four-show season with KISS, Larry the Cable Guy, ZZ Top and former Four Seasons singer Frankie Valli.
That season also had disappointing sales: Even with discounted tickets, less than 7,000 showed up for KISS.
Those concerts were the first since a closure after a four-show season in 2007.
The $35 million facility, a public/private venture, opened amid fanfare in August 2003 but immediately ran into financial problems and closed weeks later, millions in debt, amid allegations of mismanagement.
Nearly bankrupt, the facility remained closed until 2005, when it opened for a limited number of shows that included the Allman Brothers and Wynton Marsalis. It also held limited shows in 2006.
Developers John Wolfington and J. Brian O'Neill in 2007 bought Mountain Laurel and 675 surrounding acres for $23 million from the Pike County Industrial Development Authority in a deal that let the state pay off $17 million in bonds and other debt.
Perrotti said he had hoped success with last year's initial acts would lead the center to consider opening lawn seating again and target such acts as Lynyrd Skynyrd or Bob Dylan. He also hoped to eventually add a Poconos Oktoberfest, a celebration of German music, food, culture and history, and there were plans for an Irish festival this spring.
Perrotti also hoped to expand the center beyond music — to such events as extreme games and other festival-type events. He rebranded the venue as Mount Laurel Pocono Mountains Performing Arts Center, with the nickname The Mount, and made each concert a daylong event, with cookouts and local acts playing on the lawn.
"Given time, I would have made it happen," Perrotti said in an email.
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