White Park is a great place to hang out.
With a basketball court, athletic fields and a pool, it’s been a popular summer destination for years. And you can’t forget about the skating pond and sledding hill in the winter.
But this is about the warm months, and if you add in music, food and a high school basketball tournament, there won’t be a better place in the city to bring yourself on Aug. 15. Did we also mention there will be fireworks, too?
Matt and Luke Bonner – you may have heard of them – grew up playing on the White Park basketball courts and partnered with the Frank Monahan Foundation two years ago to give them a facelift. So it’s only right that when they decided to be a part of the Concord’s 250th celebration they chose White Park as their venue.
“Hopefully lots of people come out,” said Luke Bonner, executive director of the Rock On Foundation. “We just thought with it being Concord’s 250th anniversary, it would be the perfect year to transition.”
For the last three years, the Rock On Foundation has been putting together some pretty sweet festival-type music events from San Antonio to New Hampshire, along with a yearly stop at the NBA All-Star weekend.
But the N.H. events were always happening on the Seacoast and the Bonner bros have been trying to figure out a way to bring something to their hometown. Thanks to Concord’s birthday, they had a reason.
“We have been wanting to get back to the Concord area,” Bonner said. “And when we decided to come to Concord, we got a ton of local support.”
The festivities get going at 1 p.m. and it will be an all-day thing spanning the entire park. There will be a large stage with a booming sound system for multiple musical acts, the high school basketball tournament featuring four local schools and a family fun zone.
“It’s a day long event so people will come and go,” Bonner said.
Since it is a celebration of Concord’s 250 years of existence, it’s only appropriate that some historical programming will be held for the first two hours on the big stage.
Also beginning at 1 p.m. is the b-ball tourney, featuring boys and girls teams from Concord, Bishop Brady, Merrimack Valley and Pembroke. The Merrimack Valley and Pembroke girls kick off the action, followed by the girls of Bishop Brady and Concord at 2 p.m. Pembroke and Concord boys play at 3 p.m. and the Merrimack Valley and Bishop Brady fellas tip off at 4 p.m.
The winners will square off in the championship games, which will be held at 5 and 6 p.m., starting with the girls.
As for the entertainment on the main stage, which is actually the only stage, it gets going at 3 p.m. with an act to be named later. No, that’s not the name of the band, but rather a place holder as the final musical guest is determined.
Them In The Hive take the stage at 4 p.m., followed by The Tripping Souls at 5:15 p.m. Headlining the event is Hamilton Leithauser, formerly of the Walkmen, at 6:30 p.m. and Cults at 8 p.m.
“Even if people haven’t heard of them they’ll really enjoy the music,” Bonner said of the acts.
And you can expect to hear quite a bit of the Bonner brothers’ voices.
“We’ll be wearing a lot of hats that day,” Bonner said. “It’s going to be an awesome weekend.”
The Grappone family fun zone will be far enough away so the music isn’t taking away from some good ol’ fashioned family fun, but close enough to do a little dancing.
There will be food vendors, a Rock on Foundation booth and – everyone’s favorite – port-o-potties.
“We hope we can turn this into an annual thing,” Bonner said. “We kind of see it being like the equivalent of the Black ice Tournament.”
And what better way to end what will surely be a legendary day then to enjoy a little fireworks display? The exact time of the boom and light show is unknown, but once it gets dark you’ll be able to see it of you look up.
Parking at White Park will be limited to staff, volunteers and those in need of handicap access, so plan on making other arrangements to get to Rock On Fest.
For real time updates on the event and more detailed information, like Rock On Foundation on Facebook (facebook.com/RockOnFoundation) and join the Rock On Fest event page.
