‘Friday in the Park’ live music series returning to Jack Downing

Written By Paula Brown

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Shelburne residents and visitors will be able to kick off their busy summer weekends with a variety of events close to home, as the Town of Shelburne announces the return of their ‘Friday in the Park' series. 

The Town of Shelburne will be hosting the series at Jack Downing Park from June 14 until Aug. 30. The special weekend events will include a diverse line-up of live music, children's entertainment and community activities. 

“The event was successful last year, and we're hoping that this year will be even more successful,” said Carol Maitland, economic development officer for the Town of Shelburne. “The intention is to celebrate our local creative artists and also hopefully create an event that is memorable for the community and for the businesses.” 

The Friday in the Park series was held for the first time last summer and saw 150 to 500 people at each event. 

The idea for the event series came out of the Town of Shelburne's Community Improvement Plan (CIP), which identified 12 moves to improve the community. Number eight of the ‘big moves' was redesigning Jack Downing Park to become the community's ‘living room'. 

In 2022, the town converted the park into a space that could cost a wide range of community-cased outdoor programming and activities. 

The Town of Shelburne hopes the weekend event series will be able to capture the attention of the roughly 108,000 visitors who drive through the town every month and in turn encourage them to take the opportunity to stop, shop and experience the community. 

According to the town, if the Friday in the Park event is able to capture 2 per cent of the traffic driving through Shelburne, it will increase visitor traffic to the event by about 70 per cent and could add a potential $206,000 to the local community. 

“Having an event that is an economic driver is important and ideally we're hoping this year to increase the volume of the events by attracting visitors,” said Maitland. “As far as the general community, having an outdoor event that brings people together and celebrates diversity is especially important. A healthy community is also an economic driver.” 

The Friday in the Park events are being held in collaboration with the Town of Shelburne, the Shelburne BIA, and Central Counties Tourism. 

“We're hoping the community comes downtown to Jack Downing Park and experiences the different things that we're going to be offering at each event,” said Maitland.

The line-up for the Fridays in the Park includes:

June 14: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

• Campfire Poets

• Drew Ripley Entertainment

June 21: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. 

• Clerel

• Artdigenous Creations

July 5: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. 

• Team T and J

• The Wanted

July 19: 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. 

• Community Garage Sale

• Naomi Bristow

• Tim Ronan

Aug. 30: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. 

• Terra Lightfoot

• Charlie Edward 

• The Matlockes 

To learn more about the Friday in the Park series and to see the complete series line-up, visit www.shelburne.ca.