Ian Munsick will headline the last night of Opening Weekend at the Lima Amphitheater.
Christopher Douglas
LIMA —The day everyone has been waiting for is here.
The Pangle Pavilion and Greater Lima Region Amphitheater opening weekend starts Wednesday night with A Roast to the City, followed by three nights of live concerts and all-day fairs Friday and Saturday.
“We have three different nights of three different performers,” Veterans Civic Center CEO Abe Ambroza said. “We do our best to have as diverse a schedule as possible to try to hit everything for everybody in our region. Doing that in three nights is hard, but we definitely did three different shows.”
Thursday night, Grammy Award winners All-4-One will take the stage joined by a capella group Naturally 7 starting at 7:30 p.m. and joined by special guests, local band Stedic Music.
Friday night, following a free art fair all day with live music and food trucks, Lima native and founding member of the Beach Boys Al Jardine will star, joined by local acts the Indoorfins and Kevin Ashba.
And to close out the grand opening, Saturday will see a free family fun festival with a cornhole tournament and food trucks as well as live music before a performance from on-the-rise country act Ian Munsick and special guests Derek Alan and Liam Stolly, two Lima natives, as the opening acts.
Indoorfins guitarist Doug Druckemiller said that the event will be extremely special for their band as they celebrate their 30th anniversary all summer, especially when they get the chance to open for a Lima legend.
“It’s just a good story,” he said. “It’s a Beach Boy. I think everybody up there is excited about it and thought it was a good idea and we were very happy they called and wanted to do it.”
Druckemiller said that it is exciting to drive past the venue knowing that they will be there, but that it is something the community should be proud of by itself.
“There are going to be a lot of good things that go on that everybody should be happy about,” he said. “It’s definitely something cool and we’re just happy to be invited to be a part of it.”
The Indoorfins have an extensive catalog that people all over Lima know and love, but part of the fun will be the challenge that comes with that for the band.
“We looked at the songs and tried to whittle them down, but it’s probably going to be squeezed down,” Druckemiller said. “How do you whittle down hundreds of songs, but still represent what you want to do? There are certain things that you want to do and you don’t want to do so you have to accommodate that, but we’re lucky that way and we’ll make sure to do a little singing and harmonizing and some rock and roll. We’re going to keep everything upbeat and happy obviously.”
For Wyoming-based artist Munsick, he knows that even if the audience might not have the same familiarity with his music Saturday night, they will walk away having had a good time.
“We go hard,” he said. “It’s always my goal to have people leaving think that was one of the best concerts that they’ve ever been to. You have to make sure that everybody always feels like they got their money’s worth of entertainment and that’s why we play traditional country music, as well as bluegrass and pop music. We throw something out there for everybody.”
It will be Munsick’s first time in Lima, but the artist, who grew up on a ranch, is excited to check out his wife’s hometown and maybe take in a few meals at Kewpee.
And he might be just as excited as anyone else in the city to perform at opening weekend of the amphitheater.
“I think it’s just really cool that this community of Lima cares about the people that live there,” he said. “Not every town has an amphitheater like that so I think it’s a testament to the community and the people that live there. And man, I’m just honored to be the closing act and we’re going to make sure we set the standard for every concert held there forever. It’s going to be a great weekend.”
Munsick said that he hopes everyone is able to break out their straw cowboy hat and drink plenty of water, as well as to be ready for a little fiddle in their country music.
For more information on Opening Weekend for the Pangle Pavilion and Greater Lima Region Park and Amphitheater or to purchase tickets, visit the Civic Center website.
Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.
