March 28, 2024

‘When the band lights up, you can’t hardly believe you’re in Creston’

Party in the Park returns post-pandemic

The 15th annual Party in The Park will return in full force June 19 following a compromise pandemic concert last year.

The annual festival, taking place at McKinley Place will have tribute bands Petty Thieves and The Silver Bullets, covering Tom Petty and Bob Seger songs, respectively. As one can imagine, last year’s concert had to make adjustments due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Last year we had a wonderful band, and COVID hurt us a lot,” John Kawa, Parks and Recreation board chairman said. “I think we had a lot of people sitting on the street in their cars with their windows rolled down and obviously it didn’t make the park any money so we’re not going to allow that this year, you either pay for a ticket or you sit a couple three blocks away, like we’ve always done.”

The festival began as a way to attract money and attention to McKinley Park.

“It got started basically to get some entertainment in the park,” Kawa said. “There was other towns that had band things like this and we just went on that. It was Ken Sharp from Southwestern Distributing that suggested it and we kind of jumped on it and that was 15 years ago. It was just another way to have a fundraiser, we try to do stuff that nobody else does.”

Kawa also said the park board had difficulty booking music this year, but that has not slowed them down.

“Some bands aren’t starting up until fall, so we were kind of limited to what we could get,” Kawa said. “Honestly, last January is when we we usually book bands and we didn’t know if we were going to be able to do it or not. So every thing had to come together at a little more rapid pace than normal and we were fortunate to get what we got and we think it’s going to be good.”

Ticket prices are $10, which was reduced from $15 in order to attract more people, Kawa said. With the price incentive and the pandemic in remission, Kawa is optimistic about this year’s concert.

“We hope for the best,” Kawa said. “I hope people will get out, I think they’re ready to, I feel good about it. We have some wonderful entertainment, I think it’ll be good if we get the weather, which I think sounds pretty good, we should hopefully get a good crowd, we’ve got nothing but good feedback.”

Kawa compared Party in the Park to an almost transcendental experience.

“When the band lights up, you can’t hardly believe you’re in Creston,” Kawa said.

Tony Finger, drummer for Petty Thieves and The Silver Bullets based out of Kansas City, has called Independence, Missouri, his home since 1990. He went to college at Graceland University in Lamoni and has been entertaining crowds in cover bands for over 30 years.

“When you’re in high school, college, you want to have fun, party and get girls, but yet make money, it seemed like the fun thing to do,” Finger said.

Finger has played fairs and festivals all over the Midwest from Manchester, Iowa to St. Louis.

“Probably the highlight would’ve been Sandstone, we played in front of about 20,000 people, that’s with the Petty band that was there,” Finger said.

Finger and his band played the Sandstone festival in Missouri three times during the Deja Vu concert in which tribute acts perform.

This year, Finger and company will be providing a 12-foot-by-seven-foot video wall behind them while they perform. Finger said he and his bandmates can’t wait to perform at Saturday’s concert.

“This is our first show out since COVID and we’re chomping at the bit, we’re ready to go. We’re just ready to get on stage, we don’t care if it’s 10 people or 10 million people,” he said.

Gates open at 6 p.m. and the concert starts at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the gate or in advance at Creston Publishing, Hy-Vee, A&G’s Restaurant and Lounge, Jane Brown PT, PC and Stalker Chevrolet.