Potawatomi Park concert series kicks off

SOUTH BEND, Ind.— The coronavirus pandemic has caused many concerts and tours nationally to completely cancel or postpone, including the Potawatomi Park concert series.

However, after a month of waiting, they finally put on their very first concert of the summer, allowing local bands and musicians to come perform their music to the crowd.

“This is our first kickoff for the summer concert series, normally we would have started this back in June but we wanted to take extra precautions with COVID. So tonight we have the first band the Vandyke Review,” Special Event Coordinator with South Bend Venues, Parks and Arts Bridget Fields said.

The event is free and open to the public, and unlike a performance at a large indoor venue, the concert series held at the Chris Wilson Pavilion at Potawatomi Park was able to provide folks a lot of space to social distance.

“Normally more people gather up in the pavilion area but to take the extra precautions we’ve marked off every other bench and really encouraged people to bring their own seating and spread out so that they sit with their household family members rather than random people they haven’t been gathering with,” Fields said.

Organizers said that it’s important to have events continue on as long as you’re able to keep everyone involved safe.

“Our passion is like recreation within the community and we do know people being inside are going stir-crazy and obviously we aren’t doing a lot of the events that we would normally do,” Fields said.

“This is something that we can still physical distance and still enjoy and that’s what we’re really trying to promote these days.”

Potawatomi Park’s goal— to get people out of their homes and take their minds off what’s going on around the world with some good local music.

“They do say that being outside is safe and fresh air is obviously good for everyone. And you know, you can come with your family members and just enjoy the music. I think music can help cheer people up and set you in a good mood and it’s shaded and peaceful over here so it’s just really a good spot to be,” Fields said.

If you missed today’s event, you have another chance to catch local artists, with many more concerts on the schedule for Potwatatomi Park until August. Just don’t forget a lawn chair and blanket, and to keep your distance!