The city of Buchanan and the Michigan Gateway Community Foundation (MGCF) have teamed up once again to present The Common Summer Concert Series at Buchanan Common in the heart of downtown.
With styles ranging from rock and Motown to progressive bluegrass and jam, the series features performances from both local and national touring artists. There will be a total of 16 days of music between June 1 and Aug. 31 at the outdoor amphitheater and its expansive green space bordered by McCoy Creek.
Highlighting the lineup is a special Wednesday show from the The Sam Grisman Project, which features the son of Mandolin legend and Jerry Garcia collaborator David Grisman. The four-piece Sam Grisman Project pays tribute to the music of Garcia and Grisman throughout their long and storied careers.
“The name Grisman goes pretty far,” said Michael Rowland, President of the Michigan Gateway Community Foundation. “We’re really excited to have them, but in addition to that we have a lot of other great shows.”
Most of the shows will take place on Thursdays and Saturdays, with Thursdays being more local-oriented artists and Saturdays being for regional and national acts.
“Most of the Saturday shows you can expect a bigger production,” Rowland said. “Thursday shows are more acoustical. They obviously have sound and lights and everything, but they’re more local bands and just a little bit more mellow.”
Other highlights include the two-day Chippewapalooza Festival, which will feature acoustic music on Friday, Aug. 11 from 7 to 10 p.m. and electric music from noon to 10 p.m. Aug. 12. Other regional and national acts include a Stevie Ray Vaughn tribute by David Gerald on June 24 and a Shakedown Saturday with The Happy Campers on Aug 24.
‘Business development’
The MGCF is an organization that works to foster a community of philanthropy in the areas of education, healthcare and culture.
“That culture bucket is always a difficult bucket to fill in Buchanan,” Rowland said. “Long ago, we got involved with the concert series to bring free, equitable music to the community and give them opportunities to not only experience something that normally would be kind of a more expensive than venture to be able to do, but it also provides some business development for the community.”
Rowland said the concerts bring about 10,000 people to Buchanan each year, which is a boon for the entire community.
“We have a ton of great businesses here downtown and it’s very unique that we have this open air amphitheater that we can bring major acts like the Sam Grisman Project,” Rowland said. “It’s a really neat project … that alone has some ripple effects. We’ve seen that, um, not only in helping local businesses downtown and providing resources to the community, but also the ripple effect that has on our nonprofit community.”
This year, proceeds from concessions will be going to different nonprofit organizations. Those who wish to donate can do so at mgcf.org.
See the photo below for the full list of shows:
