Marion County releases 2023 summer concert schedule for Palatine Park
Jan. 10—FAIRMONT — Fairmont's riverfront is in for another rocking summer.
Over the weekend, county officials teased the 2023 Palatine Park concert schedule in a Facebook post. The park's page announced the full schedule would be released if the original post hit 500 likes.
It only took an hour for the post to blow past the goal, and the full schedule was posted. "That escalated quickly... Here's our super early release of our summer schedule," a page organizer wrote.
The summer series, starting in late May and running through the first week of September, will have 15 concerts and several other special events sprinkled throughout. The majority of the performances will be cover bands of famous artists, but these performers are top of their game.
"We're really excited about all of it and we're hoping to really continue building off the progress and excitement we built coming out of COVID," Marion County Administrator Kris Cinalli said. "We really try to bring so much variety each year and keep things fresh."
The summer will open May 26 alongside the West Virginia Three Rivers Festival held in Palatine Park. The first performer will be the band Green River, a tribute group to Creedence Clearwater Revival and John Fogerty.
The second day of the festival, May 27, a KISS tribute band will take the stage.
The rest of the summer will be packed with talent. Tributes to Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Sublime, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bob Marley, Sting, Tool, U2, The Rolling Stones and more groups will all be in Palatine Park and all concerts are free to the public.
Many of these groups play to sold-out arenas where the worst seats in the house can sell for $50 a piece. Cinalli said he and the other organizers are proud to offer free entertainment of this quality to the public.
"That's probably our biggest selling point — we're able to provide these shows at no cost to the public," Cinalli said. "These shows are not free by any means; we pay a lot of money in some cases for these shows."
In 2022, the concert series operated on a budget of around $80,000. The funds were pulled from county budgets as well as from sponsorships from local businesses. For 2023, Cinalli wasn't able to give a budget number, but he thinks it'll be around the same as last year.
His goal this year has been to cut costs without compromising the quality of the performances. In previous years the concerts were livestreamed, but that is being cut this year which will reduce production and equipment costs for the county.
But the free performances are going to stay as long as the concerts remain in Palatine, not just because of the series' popularity, but because it wouldn't be practical to have ticketed events due to the park's layout.
Cinalli was one of the progenitors of Palatine Park and spearheaded the county's involvement in the location. The original vision was to give Fairmont a vibrant riverfront and the fruits of that labor are starting to show.
"It's working. Businesses are picking Fairmont because of the success of Palatine Park. Stumptown Ales is one example," Cinalli said. "So, we're obviously doing something right and our goal is to keep building on that."
Based in Davis, West Virginia, Stumptown Ales, a craft brewing company announced in early December it will build its second location at 306 1/2 Merchant St., just up the hill from the park.
For the full schedule of concerts coming to Palatine Park this summer, visit the park's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/palatineparkwv.
Reach David Kirk at 304-367-2522 or by email at dkirk@timeswv.com.
