The year is just about half over, but the year-long celebration to honor the City of Cañon City’s sesquicentennial is still going strong.
There have been a number of events so far this year to commemorate the milestone, including a gala, a community jubilee and themed First Friday events. One more signature event coming up is the “Cañon Turns 150 Concert.”
The Royal Gorge Bridge & Park and the City of Cañon City will present the sesquicentennial celebration concert at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 16 at the Elk Park Amphitheater featuring Grammy Award-winning artist Béla Fleck.
“Over the last four decades, Béla Fleck has made a point of boldly going where no banjo player has gone before, a musical journey that has earned him 15 Grammys in nine different fields, including Country, Pop, Jazz, Instrumental, Classical and World Music,” a press release states. “But his roots are in bluegrass, and that’s where he returns with his first bluegrass tour in 24 years, My Bluegrass Heart.”
My Bluegrass Heart is the third chapter of a trilogy that began with the 1988 album, Drive, and continued in 1991 with The Bluegrass Sessions.
Fleck’s band will spotlight a multi-generational gamut of the best of bluegrass players, all sporting a myriad of Grammy Awards and nominations, as well as gigantic piles of IBMA awards for their instruments: fiddler Billy Contreras, mandolinist Sierra Hull, multi-instrumentalist Justin Moses, guitarist Shaun Richardson, and bassist/multi-instrumentalist Mark Schatz.
Concert guests should arrive early to enjoy the opening performance by multi-Grammy nominated Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen. Known for their meaty pile-driving rhythms and Solivan’s dynamic and bold vocals, the band’s last two albums have both received a Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album. They have twice been named IBMA Instrumental Group of the Year and earned numerous other IBMA noms including Male Vocalist of the Year, Mandolin Player of the Year, and in 2013, received Banjo Player of the Year.
Elk Park Amphitheater, located on the South side of the Royal Gorge Bridge & Park, is a sloped concert area with grass seating. Guests are encouraged to bring their own blankets and/or low-back lawn chairs. Seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Tickets are $32 each and can be purchased at royalgorgebridge.com. A limited number of VIP seats are available for $70. The concert starts at 6:30 pm; however, ticket holders can enter the park earlier in the day to enjoy the Park’s attractions if they wish.
To learn more about other upcoming sesquicentennial events and activities, visit https://www.canoncity150.com/.
