Arts & Entertainment News

Gigs in the Garden brings local musicians for free concerts

Springfield, MO – Hatch Foundation and Springfield Sister Cities Association present Gigs in the Garden, an outdoor concert series at 2 p.m. on Sundays, May 7, 14 and 21, 2023. Bring your lawn chairs or blankets and enjoy a variety of local performance groups in an extraordinary setting.

The concerts take place at the Peace Through People Pavilion located within the beautiful Kay Cummins Finnie Memorial Dogwood Garden at the Springfield Botanical Gardens at Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park, 2400 S. Scenic Ave., Springfield, Mo.

Admission is free with a $10 suggested donation to support garden accessibility projects. Beverages are available for purchase, and kids will love the playground nearby.

Goat Milk Honey kicks off the series on Sunday, May 7 at 2 p.m. Local brothers Rob and Ryan Hunt play their own mix on classic folk music reflecting a wide range of influences while retaining the foot stomping sounds this region is known for. Expect many originals and a few classics featuring Ryan on bass and Rob on vocals, guitar, banjo and more.

On Sunday, May 14 at 2 p.m., MOJO Lite performs with special guest Johnnie Angelia King. MOJO Lite is a seven-piece jazz combo made up of members of the Missouri Jazz Orchestra. King is well known for singing the blues and has a long list of vocal- ist credits and awards throughout the region. Together they’ll perform small-group jazz standards and originals.

The Paper Moons closes out this series on Sunday, May 21 at 2 p.m. The Paper Moons bring the best selection of timeless American tunes from the 20’s to the present. For this performance we’ll hear Joe Dillstrom on vocals, guitar, piano and harmonica; Corey Johnson on trumpet and flugelhorn; and Seth Darby on upright bass.

In the case of inclement weather, the concerts will move inside the adjacent Springfield-Greene County Botanical Center.

The series is sponsored by Hatch Foundation, Mid-Missouri Bank, and Guaranty Bank. It is managed by Springfield Sister Cities Association in cooperation with the Springfield-Greene County Park Board.

The Peace Through People Pavilion was constructed in late 2016 to encourage more cultural performances and community events in the Springfield Botanical Gardens.

For more information, please visit peacethroughpeople.org/ gigs or call 417-864-1191.