SIOUX CITY -- After a COVID cancellation in 2020 and switching to a two-day affair in 2021, the 2022 installment of Sioux City's Saturday in the Park was back to a one-day bonanza of bands, fans, food and vendors.
A little more than a half hour before the free music festival kicked off, attendees could be seen streaming into the 32-acre Grandview Park. A potent smell of barbecue, gyro meat and fries wafted through the food concourse as a drummer was heard thwacking away at his kit during a soundcheck on the Bandshell. Then, the lower area of the Main Stage was mostly empty.
An hour in, the park was fully alive.
Love of community
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Lines were forming at vendors like Smokin R's BBQ which came all the way up from Florida to supply festivalgoers with ribs, brisket and pulled pork sandwiches. In the "Kid's Zone," kids were harnessed and scaling the rock wall or navigating through an inflatable obstacle course or watching clown extraordinaire Special K'z move bubbles through the air with an array of wands.
Some folks were plenty content to just sit in their chairs and listen to the music no matter who was playing.
"We just love being here," said Rhonda Hawks and her husband Mike, 60 and 65, who drove 28 miles down from Akron, Iowa for the event. "We love the community, just bringing people together," Rhonda said. Mike added that he had been to as many as 30 installments of Saturday in the Park and couldn't recall a single fight or fracas.
Lyle Huff, 60, drove over an hour from Ashton, Iowa and said he too has been to nearly every Saturday in the Park and also didn't remember seeing anything getting out of hand.
"Everybody's just enjoying themselves," Huff said. For him, the best the festival ever got was when blues legend B.B. King performed at it in the 2007. So he was plenty excited at the prospect of hearing King's old touring mate, Buddy Guy, take the Main Stage at 6:15 p.m.
By the 6 o'clock hour, with the temperature hovering around 82 degrees, Saturday in the Park co-founder Dave Bernstein said at least 25,000 people were in attendance.
Firsts
Relative newcomers to the festival like Blaine Griese prioritized other experiences. The 13-year-old said he was most excited to see hip hop artist Fetty Wap, who scored a major hit in 2015 with the song "Trap Queen." Deborah Harper, 65, came to her first Saturday in the Park mostly to browse the Arts Alley, which included a number of clothiers, and get donuts.
First-time performers at the festival, such as Tori Semanick of the groove-heavy metal group Fall of Kings and rapper Richard Miller, marveled at the chance they got to perform on Saturday in the Park's Abe Stage.
"My voice is totally gone now," Miller said after wrapping up. "It was amazing to perform with the other artists too."
Before the show, Semanick let a number of women paint on her body as a way for them to express their own feelings. That communal engagement extended to the performance itself.
"Everyone in the band has contributed to the lyrics," Semanick said. "It's not just me singing my own lyrics, but me singing for everybody."
Mariah St Cyr, aka RYA DON, became the first female Native American rapper to perform at the festival and didn't take the opportunity for granted one bit.
"It was crazy. A little surreal. It means a lot. Last year I was just performing at bars and now I'm here. I think this is the biggest crowd I've been in front of," she said. "I'm still trying to come out on top. Trying to make it. Maybe people can see me up there and maybe think they can make it for themselves."
New Orleans-based group Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience had just two day's notice that they were playing after the band Daisy the Great dropped out. The group, which won a Grammy in 2008 for "Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album," played songs filled with bass, brass and keyboard riffs, all while tossing purple, gold and green beads in to the crowd.
Staying safe and keeping cool
Even with the crowds swelling throughout the day, there were few safety-related incidents.
According to Lt. Joe Rodriguez, the Sioux City Fire Rescue deputy fire marshal, up until about 4 p.m. only one person had to go to the safety tent.
"(They) overheated," Rodriguez said.
That degree of ease is something Bernstein also spoke too in a chat with the Journal.
"Just felt very smooth this year!!!" he said via text.
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