May 20, 2022

Downtown summer concert series returns to St. Joseph tonight

Posted May 20, 2022 4:28 PM
Coleman Hawkins Park will be the site of the Sounds of Summer Concert series/Photo by Brent Martin
Coleman Hawkins Park will be the site of the Sounds of Summer Concert series/Photo by Brent Martin

By MATT PIKE and BRENT MARTIN

St. Joseph Post

Sounds of Summer returns to St. Joseph tonight with a slight change.

The concert series will be held every third Friday of the month May through October, rather than every Friday night.

Organizer David Peppard says the previous format put a lot of stress on the volunteers who put the concerts together.

"In the old format we pretty much did, oh probably, three shows before the Fourth of July weekend we'd take the Fourth of July off and then we'd do maybe four shows or even five shows after," Peppard tells KFEQ Hotline host Barry Birr.

Peppard says organizers found the unrelenting schedule made it difficult for the volunteers during the hottest months of summer.

"It was week after week after week after week after week and the same volunteers doing the same hard work week after week after week and sometimes in 90- and 95-degree weather, it really took a toll," Peppard says.

Organizer Christie George points out Sounds of Summer continued throughout the coronavirus pandemic, but it wasn’t easy.

"But we felt like we could still, it would be a good thing to support downtown and bring people downtown outside safely, there was still plenty of room to social distance," George explains. "But we're hoping this year that we'll be better and bigger than ever and a lot of that stress from COVID is easing down."

The Downtown Association helps put on Sounds of Summer at Felix Street Square and all money raised goes towards improvements to the park.

George with the Downtown Association, says concert-goers will see a new tent in Felix Street Square.

“So now there's a new structure that's beautiful and fun to be under," George says.

David Peppard adds the tent is aesthetically much nicer and also more functional

"Kind of a cover that helps provide some shade, it's more permanent than what we had with the old frame and tent that was kind of deteriorating over time," Peppard says.  "We dedicated it to a couple of downtown business folks that we unfortunately lost during COVID," 

Sounds of Summer kicks off at 6:30 tonight at Coleman Hawkins Park in Felix Street Square in downtown St. Joseph.