How to go
What: Summerfest 2016
Where: Concord Community Park, 3263 N. Ohio 560, Urbana
When: 6 p.m. to dark Friday, July 29; 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, July 30; 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, July 31
Admission: Free
More info: www.facebook.com/concordcommunitycenter
It’s a different type of festival that can take you from a baseball tournament to a tractor pull to live entertainment to a church service over the course of a weekend.
The newly expanded Concord Community Center Summerfest 2016 will feature that and more Friday through Sunday at Concord Community Park, 3263 N. Ohio 560.
Summerfest is free, and the community is invited.
“It’s grown tremendously. It started with just a tractor pull, and now we’ll have three new food vendors, a jeep cruise-in, kids games and Bingo,” said Brittany Hart, co-vice president of the Concord Community Center and Summerfest director.
A vendor show and baseball tournaments will be at all three days.
Also in the spirit of current hot trends, Summerfest will include a Pokestop for enthusiasts of the Pokemon Go game/app.
Friday’s highlights will include tractor games. Saturday will feature an antique tractor pull, classic car cruise-in, jeep cruise-in, tug-a-truck, live comedy and music featuring the Cosmic Torpedoes.
Hart said Summerfest organizers listened to the public’s request and will have a church service on Sunday morning, followed by the annual tractor pulls and live gospel music from Citizens of Heaven.
Proceeds from the Bingo games, which the center got a license to operate, and the kids games will go toward the center’s operating expenses.
The Concord Community Center offers baseball and soccer fields, meeting rooms for rent, batting cages, a kitchen and houses an area food pantry.
Hart said it is in a very rural local in an old school building, but staff has worked hard to turn it into a place where everybody can go.
She said the center relies on rentals and donations to offer its services. But it’s a place that’s something of a hidden gem in the community that they welcome people to discover.
“We’re really proud of our event, it’s taken a lot of work,” Hart said. “Summerfest is a great way to support the center and to be part of the community here.”
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