Free summer concerts set to return across Chatham-Kent and the region

By Dan White – Special to the Sydenham Current

Well, it appears summer has finally decided to pay us a visit. Of course, we are Canadian, so that means we have already begun complaining about the heat and the bugs. Traditions are important!

Joni and I have had a full couple of weeks since my last column. We spent about 10 days visiting our niece and nephew, Laura and Joel. Regular readers will recall that they live just outside Ottawa in Quebec and Joni and I try to get up a couple times a year to visit. We enjoy helping them with a few odd jobs around their place, and we always seem to find time for a few memorable encounters with nature.

This visit was particularly cool as we had the opportunity to watch a beaver family that had built a lodge next door. We watched the parents and two babies swimming around in the bay at the edge of the property. Not so fun for the neighbours as the beavers had created their lodge under their dock.

While we were there, I called into CKXS in Wallaceburg on June 9—exactly one year before BandTogether—to connect with Chatham Concert Band Maestro Vaughn Pugh, who has led the ensemble for more than forty years. Vaughn was at the station drawing the early bird winner for a fundraiser for the BandTogether concert. Congratulations to Earl Morwood from Bothwell on winning the 2 tickets to see Canadian icon, Jann Arden in Windsor!

The grand prize draw is August 19 at a CCB summer concert. The winner gets 2 tickets to a Detroit Tigers game and cash. All proceeds from this will help defray the expenses of this venture.

Speaking of the CCB summer concerts. That series of free concerts begins June 24 at 7 pm in Tecumseh park and continues every Wednesday evening throughout the summer, concluding September 2nd.

It’s a great opportunity to grab a lawn chair and meander down to Tecumseh Park for an enjoyable evening of music along the Thames River.

As the school year comes to a close and summer settles into our lives there are free concerts virtually every night of the week across CK and within a short drive to the north.

Our friend Tina Grant, a member of the Wallaceburg Concert Band has taken the time to research and curate a list of free concerts in the area for some years now and this will be my second year including it in this column for your convenience. Tina’s list includes concerts further from home, but I have reduced it to anything in CK or Sarnia Lambton, for those of you living in the south of CK, there are free concerts in Windsor-Essex as well.

There is a wide variety of music, something for every musical taste and many close to home. There is nothing quite like setting up a lawn chair with a few friends and letting the sounds of local musicians waft over you on a warm summer evening. While some musicians loath outdoor concerts, I love the atmosphere of children laughing and playing, birds singing and subdued chatter intermingled with some really great bands, it is a casual music experience.

Hope to see you out there.

FREE OUTDOOR MUSIC SCHEDULES FOR 2026

2026 Summer Concert Line Up Talbot Trail, Blenheim, Ontario (Thursdays)

June 25: Mystic Highway https://mystichighwayband.com/

July 2: Coming of Age https://comingofageband.ca/

July 9: Copper Sky https://www.facebook.com/people/Copper-Sky/61568732282783/

July 16: Orangeman https://www.orangeman.ca/

July 23: Mojo Cola https://www.facebook.com/mojocolaofficial/

July 30: Ottis Wonder & The Hustle https://otiswonderandthehustle.com/

August 6: Fiddlestix https://www.fiddlestix.ca/

August 13: Freedom Train https://www.freedomtrain.ca/home/

August 20: Gravity Junkies https://www.facebook.com/gravityjunky/