GREENFIELD — A lifelong Greenfield resident and longtime music promoter is working to put his hometown on the map as a go-to concert destination.
Mark Butterfield is bringing nationally known artist Vonda Shepard to the H.J. Ricks Centre on March 30, and he hopes it will be the first of many notable shows he brings to the historic theater and former movie house he frequented as a kid.
“Nobody’s going to Indy to see shows anymore,” said Butterfield, who believes crowds are gravitating away from seeing shows in big cities due to crime.
Smaller town venues are very likely the wave of the future, he said, which could make a dramatic impact on the economic landscape.
“When you’ve got 300 people coming to a show, they’re going to be looking for a place to eat and grab a drink,” he said.
Tony Seiler, who manages the Ricks Centre, said he also thinks live music and other entertainment is making the move from big cities to smaller towns.
“I used to love going to Indy for anything and I don’t even go anymore,” he said, citing higher crime and underwhelming service.
“Greenfield has grown so much that our entertainment is getting better and better,” said Seiler, a musician who lines up musical acts at the Riley Festival and Depot Street Park, as well as the Ricks.
“I’m excited about where our city is going. I really am. We’re starting to become our own little mecca,” he said.
His partner, Heather Wornstaff, who helps Seiler set up for numerous concerts, agrees.
“It’s incredible to see how far things have come in the last two to three years,” said Wornstaff, who worked at the Ricks Centre as a kid, back when it was a movie theater.
Wornstaff said many people don’t realize how high caliber the artists are who now play at the Ricks.
“There was a Noblesville teacher who was nominated for a Grammy who played at the Ricks four months ago, and she was amazing,” she said.
Butterfield hopes to max out the seating for Shepard’s upcoming show at the Ricks, which seats 386.
The little theater has come a long way in recent years, he said — thanks to ongoing improvements like new seating, marquee upgrades and enhanced lighting — and is primed to host nationally known acts with big followings. Yet he hopes that the majority of ticket holders will come from close to home.
“I hesitate to promote the show on my email blast of followers, which has 4,000 people from all over Indy, because I want the theater to be full of people from Hancock County,” he said.
Butterfield has been encouraged to see the success of other small to midsize theaters in cities like Shelbyville, Danville and Ft. Wayne, and hopes to see the Ricks continue to grow in popularity.
If ticket sales for Shepard’s show in March go well, he’s anxious to book a number of other acts at the Greenfield theater, including artists like Steve Wariner, Suzy Boggus, Kathy Mattea and Bruce Springsteen’s longtime guitarist, Nils Lofgren.
He’s also reached out to Emmy award winning actor Jeff Daniels, who Butterfield calls a “very talented musician.”
Daniels recently played a show in the small Indiana town of North Vernon, which Butterfield said shows that big stars are open to playing in small-town venues.
A lifelong music lover, Butterfield picked up concert promoting as a hobby, and said he’s promoted 670 shows over the past 40 years.
“This will be the 671st,” he said, referring to the upcoming Greenfield show.
Shepard is an award-winning artist who got her start by providing the music backdrop to the 1990s television series “Ally McBeal,” for which she performed live in most episodes.
As a teen, she recorded the chart-topping duet, “Can’t We Try,” with singer Dan Hill and recorded her self-titled debut album in 1989 after touring as a backup singer for Jackson Browne.
Butterfield has high hopes that the California artist with a soulful voice will prove to be a big draw for Greenfield.
“I figured this would be a good show to get started with,” he said.
Butterfield said he has 20 other shows lined up at various venues throughout the Midwest this year, but hosting a concert series in his hometown would be something really special.
“I’m spending a lot of my own money to see if it’s going to work,” he said.
Butterfield got his start in the music business as a college student working at the Karma Music store in Broad Ripple. He later worked for Sunshine Promotions, getting his first taste for promoting concerts.
After that, he was hooked.
As someone who opposes big ticket processing fees, Butterfield plans to sell tickets to Shepard’s show in-person at the Ricks — cash only — from 6-8 p.m. Jan. 22-25 and Jan. 29 through Feb. 1.
He’ll also have tickets available online, but the processing fee will likely be less than $2, he said.
Reserved seating will be sold with the best seats going first. Tickets cost $30 in advance and $35 at the door.
The March 30 show starts at 7:30 p.m., with doors opening one hour prior to showtime.
For more information, or to purchase tickets online, visit HancockCoMusic.com.
Mark Butterfield, a concert promoter, has lined up a new concert series to take place this year in Greenfield.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
