By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Spring is here and that means summer is just around the corner which signals the beginning of an annual summer concert series in St. Joseph.
Parties on the Parkway hosted by the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce will kick off next month on the south side of St. Joseph near Benton High School.
Chamber of Commerce spokeswoman Kristi Bailey says the summer concerts are always popular with the community.
"Bring their friends, their dogs, and come out for free music, there's always food and drink available," Bailey tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "This year we have an ice cream truck that's going to be at every single event and a balloon artist for the kids that's going to be at every single event, so it's always popular."
Bailey adds though that she's always seeing new faces that have never been and encourages everyone to bring people out to the concerts.
The concert series will kick off with the bluegrass band The Matchsellers on May 11th at SW Parkway and King Hill Drive.
Bailey says every year the community helps nominate bands for the event, which helps find a variety of genres
"We don't want to be all country all the time, we don't want to be all rock all the time, we try to mix it up," Bailey says.
Bailey says the community helping choose the bands by nominating them also encourages people to come out to the event
"The more people are involved in nominating who's going to be there, if someone you nominated is selected I defintly hope you're going to come to that event," Bailey says. "Because you are a part of the process."
And Bailey says this year’s concerts will feature something new called The Prize Patrol
"We've never had a prize patrol before, so this year United Fiber is sponsoring a prize patrol," Bailey explains. "So, each Parties on the Parkway, residents that come out are likely to win prizes just for showing up, so that will be something new and fun."'
Concerts will be held the second Thursday of every month from 5 to 8 pm. If rain forces a cancelation, it will be moved to the third Thursday of that month.
