On September 12, 2014, JLG Architects invites the public to “Rock the Streets” in celebration of the firm’s 25th anniversary. The free street dance will be held in Town Square in Downtown Grand Forks. The beer garden and food vendors will begin serving at 7:00 p.m. and the band will take the stage at 8:00 p.m.
“This concert is really to thank everyone, from Grand Forks to Minneapolis to Williston, for the first 25 years, and to get them excited about the next 25,” said Lonnie Laffen, CEO and firm founder.
The performing headliner of Rock the Streets will be The Fabulous Armadillos, a rock band out of St. Cloud, Minnesota. Founded in 2006, The Fabulous Armadillos feature musicians with an impressive history who have played in bands with Jonny Lang, Johnny Holm Band, Bobby Vee and GB Leighton and more. The musicians have also shared stages with Aerosmith, B.B. King, the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and Sir Paul McCartney. The band rocks out over 100 shows a year, primarily in the Upper Midwest, and their strong fandom of “Dilloheads” pre-sells most of their performances out in a matter of minutes and have followed them as far as Mexico for an annual concert. Band members include Greg “Gary D.” Armstrong on keys, Paul “Stretch” Diethelm on guitar, Billy Scherer (who hails from Grand Forks on vocals), Pamela McNeill on vocals, Mike Zeleny on bass and Jay O’Donnell on drum, Pat Thorn on trumpet and Mike Kreitzer on sax.
“The Dillos play ‘classic rock’ but not the same old, same old,” said Lonnie Laffen. “You shut your eyes and feel like you are hearing the songs played by the original band, with impeccable vocals, guitar skills, fantastic keyboards and horns with a vast repertoire of songs from Abba to Zeppelin and everything in between.”
As a part of the Rock the Street event, JLG has built a LED-lit guitar which will be moved around Grand Forks. An $100 Visa gift card will be awarded at the street dance to the best photo taken with the guitar. Details on the contest and concert, as well as the guitar locations and a video on how to submit a photo, can be found at www.JLGRocks.com.
JLG Architects was founded in Grand Forks in 1989 by Lonnie Laffen and Gary Johnson. Today, the firm has grown to seven offices and 100 employees, and was recently named #158 of the top 300 Architecture firms in the United States by Architectural Record, one of the fastest growing architecture firms in North America by Inc Magazine and ZweigWhite, and a Best Place to Work by Prairie Business, Zweig White and the Grand Forks Young Professionals.
For more information on Rock the Streets, visit www.JLGRocks.com. For more information on JLG Architects, visit www.jlg.aci-dev.com.
