By Janelle Gelfand / Enquirer staff writer

Conducter Erich Kunzel leads the Cincinnati Pops in a concert as the crowd sits in the fading light of dusk at the Sawyer Point. (The Enquirer/Steven M. Herppich)

Violinist Stacey Woolley, a member of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, remembers a Concert in the Park when he let his violin dangle at his side during a rest.

"When it came time for me to play again, I put the violin up to my chin, and there on the chin rest, the size of a barn, was a big daddy longlegs," he says. "I almost screamed. But I didn't."

After 38 years of Concerts in the Parks, musicians have a few tales to tell. Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops kick off the 38th summer of free outdoor concerts today.

"Our largest crowd ever was at Winton Woods, when about 42,000 people came," says Kunzel, who has conducted every year since 1968. "We had to drop Winton Woods, because it just got too gigantic."

IF YOU GO

What: Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Erich Kunzel, conductor When: Concerts are at 7:30 p.m. Today: Boone Woods County Park, Burlington Friday: P&G Pavilion at Sawyer Point, downtown (includes fireworks) Tuesday: Miami Whitewater Forest, Harrison

Since former Cincinnati Symphony maestro Max Rudolf founded the series in 1967, it has evolved from two weeks of light classics in parks around the community to its current three-concert series.

"The Concerts in the Park were my first exposure to the symphony as a child," says Woolley. "I remember my parents bringing me to concerts at Seasongood Pavilion in Eden Park and Miami Whitewater, where they were setting unbelievable attendance records for Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture."

"Over 38 years, we've had thousands of people, dogs barking and children screaming," recalls Kunzel. "The whole purpose is to let the whole family come, bring picnic baskets and let the children sleep underneath the stars. It was to bring the famous sound of the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops to all the people, without any pretensions or stuffiness."

The soda Pops incident

The orchestra has been lucky with weather. But Kunzel remembers a terrifying incident at a rehearsal in Eden Park in the '80s, when a cola trailer broke loose and careened into the orchestra, spraying cola and damaging instruments.

"Oh God, that was scary," Kunzel says. "I was conducting. I saw the percussionists' mouths drop. I quickly turned around and I realized what was happening, and I just said, 'Run!' to the orchestra. They ran as quickly as they could into the wings. My podium went up in the air about five feet."

Another time, the Pops was playing an encore - "Stars and Stripes Forever" - when the power blew.

"We couldn't see and the sound system went. The orchestra went right on playing - not one note was missed," Kunzel says. "The crowd went wild. They finished the whole piece."

Back to classics

Over the years, the program has evolved into Broadway hits and movie themes. This year, though, Kunzel is planning a return to light classics with music by American composer Howard Hanson, including his most popular Romantic Symphony No. 2 and a wartime Fanfare that Hanson wrote for the Cincinnati Symphony.

When the parks concerts end, Kunzel and the Pops will record a groundbreaking album of music by Hanson, a composer from the early 20th century.

It was the Concerts in the Parks that began the orchestra's expansion to the full-time ensemble it is now, Kunzel says.

"We wanted to bring the orchestra to everybody, as an orchestra you can enjoy all year 'round."

E-mail jgelfand@enquirer.com