Return of music at Copenhagen Bakery approved for summer Saturdays, with conditions

At the March 22 Northport Village Board meeting, Copenhagen Bakery received official permission to restore its live outdoor music program on Saturdays from May 1 to October 31, from 10am to 3pm. The board asked, however, to move the music to the north side of the building in order to keep the sound in a commercial area rather than next to residences.

The outdoor music, which in the past occurred on Saturday and Sundays, was discontinued last summer, after Copenhagen Bakery was issued a code violation. Within a week, a handwritten petition was on display in the bakery, with over 400 signatures from people who wanted to see the music return.

At the time, according to conversation at Village board meetings, there were two complaints from one neighbor down Woodbine Road about the noise. To minimize the volume for nearby homes this summer, Mayor Donna Koch requested that the music be moved to the other side of the building, in the grass area where picnic tables currently stand.

“The music complaint last year came from your neighbors to the south, so I thought if it was put on the north side, in the picnic tables and grassy area, it’s more of a commercial area,” Mayor Koch explained. The request from Copenhagen was to continue music this year in the south lot, where it was played in year’s past next to outdoor tables.

“I hate that you are asking to put this in a parking lot and not use it for parking,” the mayor commented, saying that the lot should be used for patron and employee parking only.

Copenhagen Bakery owner Flemming Hansen made the in-person request at the board meeting and was hesitant to accept the proposal to move the music to the north side, on the grassy or patio areas because his patrons enjoy sitting at the tables in the open lot while listening to the music, but said he would give it a try.