Park Rhythms to be moved to Veterans Park
Summer concert series spreads out in new location
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
April 30, 2021
Summer concert series Park Rhythms will return in a new location in 2021. The season will open at Veterans Park, Thursday, June 17, when The Maggie Valley Band performs. Image courtesy of Black Mountain Recreation Department
A Black Mountain tradition will return this summer, but in a new location.
Annual outdoor concert series Park Rhythms, which was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will take place in Veterans Park this year.
Shows were split between longtime venue Lake Tomahawk and downtown Black Mountain in 2019, the 24th year of the series. Neither location allowed the space needed to ensure social distancing, according to the town’s recreation department, which organizes the event.
“Veterans Park allows attendees to spread out more, and it also has plenty of parking,” said recreation coordinator, Clint Bowman. “It will allow us to space groups of people beyond six feet, so it made the most sense when we started talking about bringing Park Rhythms back this year.”
Beginning at 7 p.m., Thursday, June 17, eight concerts will be held on the portable LEAF stage, which will be set up on one of the four baseball fields on the north side of the park. Pisgah AVL will provide the sound system for all of the shows.
The 2021 Park Rhythms lineup features the bands originally scheduled to perform last summer, with The Maggie Valley Band opening the series in mid-June.
The shows will be held every Thursday, with the exception of July 1, through Aug. 12.
The new location will allow recreation staff to mark designated areas for groups to watch the concerts.
“We will go out there every week and paint squares on the grass,” Bowman said. “Groups that arrive together can find a spot to set up, and since the designated areas will be more than six feet apart, it’s not necessary to wear masks when sitting with your group. We only require masks be worn when outside of your marked space.”
The venue should provide “more than enough room,” he added.
Planning for the 2021 Park Rhythms began months ago, according to Bowman.
“We knew we would be bringing it back this year by January, and we started thinking about the best place to have it,” he said. “The space in front of the stage at Lake Tomahawk and the area downtown are too small to accommodate a normal crowd with social distancing measures. We came to the conclusion that Veterans Park gave us the space necessary to safely organize the concerts.”
A food truck will be on-sight for each show, according to Bowman, and local artist, Casey Vandergrift, designer of the 2021 Park Rhythms poster, will offer t-shirt printing.
The series is presented by the Black Mountain Recreation Department with the support of Pisgah AVL, LEAF, Red Radish and Grift Town Goods.
The line-up for the summer outdoor concert series is below:
All shows 7- 9 p.m.
June 17: The Maggie Valley Band (folk/rock)
June 24: Caroline Keller Band (country)
July 8: Daniel Shearin (of River Whyless) (indie folk)
July 15: The Mug Band (blues/rock)
July 22: Rooster (folk/Americana)
July 29: Hustle Souls (funk/sou)l
August 5: Victoria Victoria (indie pop)
August 12: Brad Faulkner (country/Americana)