By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw
WARSAW — Warsaw Parks and Main Street Warsaw are coordinating events for what might be the biggest gathering in Central Park this year with the Country Concert for St. Jude — featuring Kimberly Perry.
Main Street Warsaw’s Third Friday is part of the fun and will again start slightly earlier than normal so that everyone at Third Friday can head down to Central Park in time for the country concert.
Third Friday will take on a farm and country theme that will include hobby horse races, pony rides, Cornhole, and possibly some line dancing, according to Scott Wiley, with the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce.
Roughly 30 vendors will be part of the fun on the downtown courthouse square.
Echoes of the Past will have a display and one of their tractors will serve as a shuttle down to Central Park, Wiley said.
Third Friday activities will be from 4:30 to 7 p.m., which is a shorter duration, marking the second time this year that Third Friday organizers have adjusted their schedule to accommodate a Central Park concert on the same night. The first one was the Everclear concert in June.
Unlike the annual rock concert that saw hot and humid conditions, Friday’s show is expecting pleasant with a high near 78.
Kaitlyn Baker & Joe Lasher will open the show at 6:30 p.m., and Kimberly Perry will follow at 8 p.m.
Willie 103.5’s Chris Cage expects a big crowd.
“Every year, we get four to five thousand people — maybe a little more — and there’s no reason with the weather and Kimberly Perry — should be a great crowd,” Cage said.
The concert is a fundraiser for the St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. Last year, the concert helped raise $9,000 for the research hospital.
“We’ll have volunteers pass around donation buckets throughout the show to help raise money for St. Jude to continue the great research they do at the hospital,” Cage said. “Bring a couple extra dollars and them off in the buckets and we’ll greatly appreciate it.”
