Text and photo courtesy of the PostBulletin.
The award was created in 2017 to honor a person or group who has impacted the downtown Rochester community. Sievers was honored for his musical efforts in the area.
The Sandy Keith Downtown Impact Award was presented to John Sievers during the Downtown Music Celebration on Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, for his musical efforts.
Sievers was completely unaware that he was being honored. He was told the announcement was a volunteer award and even thought he and the band should leave the stage. That did not happen though.
“It was not on my radar at all,” Sievers said. “I kind of feel guilty for getting the award. I feel like I just have been doing a bunch of stuff that I enjoy doing and I feel like I’m lucky to get to do the stuff I’m doing. I guess it’s the icing on top of the cake. I’m very grateful.”
The Sandy Keith Downtown Impact Award is presented to a person or group whose efforts have made or are making a substantial impact on the downtown community. According to the Rochester Downtown Alliance, the goal of the award is to “recognize those who continue to demonstrate passion for urban growth and community development and encourage others to do the same.”
The award was named after A.M. “Sandy” Keith, who helped found the RDA in 2005 and served as its first executive director for five years. He was the first recipient of the award in 2017.
The RDA wanted to honor the live music scene in Rochester. According to Shawn Fagan, RDA deputy director, there have been more than 225 music performances downtown and they wanted to highlight that aspect of the downtown Rochester experience. Sievers was picked this year because of his widespread involvement in the music scene in the Rochester area.
“The man is so involved in the music scene in Rochester,” Fagan said. “He’s such a delightful individual. Such a joy to be around and he has connections with so many different musicians. He is booking a lot of our acts and stuff like that. So it was an easy decision. This is like let’s honor those artists, that culture, and John brings music to life in downtown Rochester.”