Free outdoor concerts return to Fall River parks this summer starting July 6
FALL RIVER — The free summer concerts series that launched last year as a way to bring neighbors together during the pandemic is returning, with plans to involve twice as many local parks as last summer.
“Last year, coming out of COVID, we wanted to bring people out into the neighborhoods and it was wildly successful,” Patrick Norton, executive director at the Narrows Center for the Arts, said at a press conference at Griffin Park on Wednesday to officially announce the 2022 "Summer Evenings in the Park" event series.
The Narrows is one of the program’s sponsors, along with the city of Fall River, Bristol County Savings Bank, Viva Fall River and Greater Fall River Re-Creation.
Norton described the concerts as “holistic” events that, along with live music, will include free arts and crafts for kids, free hot dogs and hamburgers and a free bag of groceries for each family that attends. He anticipates about 500 people at each concert, he said.
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Musical acts will include the New Orleans-inspired Southcoast Brass Band, the Marcus Monteiro Trio, and the Dirty Water Brass Band.
Last summer, there were eight concerts across four different parks. This year, it’s expanded to include eight parks across the city that will each see one concert sometime during July or August.
“This is a partnership to make Fall River a better place to live,” Mayor Paul Coogan said at Wednesday’s press conference. “These things (last summer) were exciting, they were vibrant and they had a lot of activity."
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Patrick Murray, president and CEO of Bristol County Saving Bank, which is contributing $10,000 to the program, pitched the concerts as bright spot during a time of increased isolation due to the pandemic and added stress from rising prices.
“It’s exciting to know that free, high-quality entertainment will be kicking off literally right here in just a matter of weeks,” he said.
Corky Row Neighborhood Association President Mark Conrad pointed out that Griffin Park, the location for both Wednesday’s press conference and the first concert in the series, was the location of a deadly shooting that rattled the Corky Row neighborhood last May. The concert series, he said, shows that neighbors’ and city leaders’ interest in continuing to strengthen the community in the wake of the shooting has not waned.
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Anyone who says there’s not anything good happening in the area is wrong, he said.
“There’s something going on all the time, showing the real soul of the city and how great it is,” he said.
The events each start at 5:30 p.m. and will run until 8 p.m.
Wednesday, July 6: Griffin Park
Wednesday, July 13: Pulaski Park
Wednesday, July 20 : Poulos Park
Wednesday, July 27: Ruggles Park
Wednesday, August 3: Kennedy Park
Wednesday, August 10: Lafayette Park
Wednesday, August 17: Abbott Court Playground
Wednesday, August 24: North Park
Audrey Cooney can be reached at acooney@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Free outdoor concerts returning to Fall River parks
