Creston showed up for Molly Hatchet

In a tour line up including shows in France, Italy, Germany and Las Vegas, the southern rock band Molly Hatchet made a stop in small town Iowa.

After local band, Ridin’ Shotgun, opened up Party in the Park Saturday at McKinley Park, the members of Molly Hatchet took the stage.

Right away, frontman Bobby Ingram started waving for the crowd to get up and make some noise.

This year’s event was the biggest yet for the Creston Parks and Recreation Department. “We decided to take a chance on the budget,” said board member Gary Borcherding. “It’s more than we’ve spent before.”

The gamble paid off as the crowd is expected to be the second-biggest in the 16-year history of the event. “Marshall Tucker is the only crowd I think that was bigger,” Borcherding said. “I don’t have an exact count on the number of people yet, but I’ve had a lot of positive feedback.”

He estimates 600-650 people attended the concert held in conjunction with Creston’s July Fourth weekend events.

After the event, they spoke to the band’s road manager who said he was happy with the way the event turned out.

The band took off right after the event to catch a flight to their next show in Las Vegas.

Looking ahead, the parks and rec department has already had discussions about next year, but Borcherding said they aren’t ready to share that information quite yet.

The biggest factor to booking bands is the availability of performers and what they want with it. “If we get a band that brings all their own equipment, we can spend more money on them,” Borcherding said. “Years ago, we fell into a situation where we were able to get Marshall Tucker and Foghat in back to back years.”

Overall, he said the event went really well. “I’ve heard a lot of positive feedback,” he said. “We were happy with the way it turned out.”