Palooka Brothers come to the Gazebo stage Thursday night

The Palooka Brothers: From left, Mark Palms, fiddle, banjo, and guitar; Bruce Gartner, mandolin and fiddle; Dan Bracken, guitar and vocals; and Jon Cotton, bass and vocals. (Courtesy photo)

The Palooka Brothers string band will present a community concert at 7:30pm on Thursday evening, June 23, at the Gazebo in downtown Manchester’s Wurster Park. This performance is free and open to the public, but a freewill donation basket will be passed during the intermission of the concert.

The program will include performances of two original musical pieces commissioned by Riverfolk Music & Arts Organization that have been composed by three members of the Palooka Brothers: 1) the instrumental “Manchester Rag“ and 2) the song “Manchester Morning.“ The premieres of these compositions will not only instill local pride in the community, but will also remind their audience of the importance of supporting the works of present-day composers and songwriters. Come and enjoy these new songs and plenty of other great music with your neighbors and friends in the great atmosphere that we have all come to love at the Gazebo Concerts for the past 30+ years.

This concert event will bring together people of different generations and backgrounds to learn about traditional string band music and to relax and enjoy time together in a beautiful outdoor setting. A rain location is available nearby. Riverfolk is extremely grateful to Michigan Humanities for its support with a grant for this concert.

After a successful collaboration last year with the Manchester Area Historical Society in its “Passport to Manchester“ events series, Riverfolk decided to again celebrate the history of the Manchester area and also to embrace a role in creating “today’s history“ with the commissions of these new pieces of music, which will also serve as “theme songs“ for the three upcoming Passport events planned for July, August, and September 2022.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.