Downtown Concord comes together for Market Days
One of the high points of the year for downtown Concord is the Market Days celebration organized by Intown Concord. This year’s Market Days begin Thursday, June 25, and continue to Saturday, June 27.
Berit Brown is the events coordinator for Intown Concord. She said that because virtually all of Concord’s downtown businesses participate in Market Days it is an expression of the community.
“For instance,” she said, “there will be a stage in Bicentennial Square with live music throughout the three days, and we have a Country Day, which will be focused on country music on Friday. Donaher will play at 8 p.m., and that is in partnership with the Capitol Center; that performance will have two ASL [American Sign Language] interpreters, which is new to the festival this year. We’re really excited to be able to offer access to the festival.”
All of downtown Concord will be involved in this year’s Market Days, Brown said.
“We closed down Main Street and a few side streets. There are more than 200 vendors, including the Concord Arts Market. There’s food vendors and different service providers and places to shop. [Most] of our downtown businesses will have a booth and discounts and exclusive items and things like that. It will last from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. all three days. Most of the shops and booths will stay open until 8 p.m., and the music goes on until 10. This is a rain-or-shine event. We have definitely had years where it’s rained in the past, so our vendors have learned to plan for anything. Even if it rains, they will still be there and they’re still excited to interact and have a good time.”
“Something new this year,” Brown said, “is a vintage market with vintage clothing and records on one end of Pleasant Street and the other end will be a food truck alley. The vintage side will have a fill-a-bag sale on Saturday. Saturday will be when all the shops are open,” Brown said. “We’ve got a KidZone with two bounce houses and a bunch of different fun things, including puppies that you can play with. There’s a story time. There are musical performances from children’s performers. The Black History Trail will present a reading of Frederick Douglass’ speech, ‘What to a Slave is the 4th of July?’”
Intown Concord has sponsored a beer tent at the north end of Main Street this year, featuring ’90s music on Thursday, pub trivia on Friday, and live music from Randy McGravey on Saturday.
In previous years, finding parking during Market Days has been a challenge.
“I think honestly, the most exciting thing that we have happening this year,” Brown said, “is that we have a free trolley, so people can park at NHTI and take a free trolley to the festival and they can avoid the parking hassles. It’s a wheelchair-accessible shuttle. People can ride that every day from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and it’s on a 30-minute loop and it just drops you right at the festival. I’m really excited about the inclusion efforts that we’ve included this year. We have increased our seating a lot this year so there is somewhere to sit on every block and enjoy a moment of shade or eat food. We also have a diaper-changing and breastfeeding tent that will be available on Friday and Saturday over in the kid zone. That’s a new thing that we’ve decided to incorporate into the festival since so many families attend the festival every year. We want people to be able to enjoy the festival and not feel rushed.”
Intown Concord’s Market Days Festival
When: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday, June 25, Friday, June 26, and Saturday, June 27
Where: along Main Street in Concord
More: An interactive digital program and map of the event is available at marketdaysfestival.com.
Market Days music
Music on the Main Stage on South Main Street will include dance band The Party Crashers, Freese Brothers Big Band, country band Mutha Hubbard, country singer Maggie Baugh, Celtic rock band Waking Finnegan, and YellowHouse Blues Band.
Music at the Homegrown Stage at Bicentennial Square will include Goldfish, 4Toes, Lava Llama, No Mango, J3ST, and Hometown Eulogy.
Visit marketdaysfestival.com/music-stages.
Market Days food
There will be more than 40 food vendors feeding the crowd at this year’s Market Days, including Batulo’s Kitchen (Somali food), Empanadas Deluxe 603 (gluten-free Latin American dishes), STREET (international street food), Unlawful Waffles (waffles with decadent toppings), Yankee Farmers Market Buffalo (bison-based burgers and dishes), Social Club Creamery (ice cream and cookies) and many more. Visit marketdaysfestival.com/vendors#Food-Vendors.
Featured photo: Market Days in Concord. Courtesy photo.