Free Friday night concerts are fun for the whole family here in Olathe, Kansas.
Last evening my wife and I and our two girls (the boys are MIA - one in New Zealand and the other at Beaver Lake) went over to Olathe's Frontier Park to enjoy the free concert series that the city puts on each summer going on 8 years now. We've lived in Olathe for quite a while now. However, we had never taken the opportunity to do this. Our mistake.
Last evening's performance was by a regional Beatles tribute band by the name of Liverpool. While I had secretly hoped that somehow John, Paul, George and Ringo would make an actualappearance, these guys were enjoyable in the real Beatles' absence.
Complete with mop top hairdos and clean cut suits they came on stage and performed some of the better known classics of the early Beatles. After a twenty something minute rest they returned in full Seargent Pepper's regalia and sang several songs from the corresponding album and so on. After all, it was forty years ago TODAY... Another set change brought the later version of the Beatles and songs like Revolution.
I was told by a couple of the visitors that Liverpool is always the larges crowd of the year. And large the crowd was. But even though Olathe has 112,000+ residents it felt like a smaller town atmosphere. Kids threw Frisbees and flew balsa wood planes. Adults sipped on soft drinks and told stories with their neighbors. We didn't go with anybody in particular but saw many, many people we knew and said "hello."
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Finding events that the whole family can enjoy can be a difficult challenge. Especially when you are trying to keep the costs down. And when you are raising a family, who isn't trying to keep the costs down? Here at Frontier Park there is no admission fee. So you can make up some sandwiches or fry up some chicken, throw some drinks in a cooler and bring out some chairs and a blanket.
The adults get to enjoy some music that will bring smiles to their faces. The kids get to run around outside, yell, scream and do whatever else it is their imaginations can come up with. And while our world isn't 100% safe. I cannot believe it can be any safer than Olathe on a Friday night. There was just enough of a police presence to keep the bad guys away but not to intrude on the family like fun going on.
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I love music of all kinds. There really isn't too much I don't like. And the Olathe Friday Night Concert Series brings just about any type of music you can think of to the heartland.
The concert series is 6 show event. Liverpool was fun. But I am really looking forward toRodney Crowell coming up on June 29. Pushed to the back by popular country music stations his music is as American as can be.
If you are not familiar with Rodney Crowell but you like singer/songwriters in the classic American style you'll want to come out and enjoy this evening. The price is right, isn't it?
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Other shows coming up for the Olathe concerts are;
Chubby Carrier - June 22
Mark Selby - July 13
Marcia Ball - July 20
Malford Milligan w/Danny Cox - August 3
Say "hello" if you see me!
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