Party in the Park debuts this summer

TOLEDO – The new Party in the Park concert series kicks off May 30, with free shows featuring top local acts each Friday through Aug. 29 in downtown Toledo’s Promenade Park.

For the Beef Carvers, who are scheduled to perform the second concert on June 6, the event will bring the Toledo band back full circle to where they started nearly 32 years ago.

“Our first show was Labor Day weekend of 1993 at CitiFest’s Rally by the River,” recalled John Danielak, guitarist and founding member of the Beef Carvers. 

The Rally by the River concerts in Promenade Park were legendary, running from 1990 through 2007, with scores of renowned national acts that included REO Speedwagon, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Temptations, Collective Soul and Cheap Trick.

The Beef Carvers made their debut on a side stage, near what today is Imagination Station. They’ve been entertaining local audiences ever since.

“You blink your eyes and 30 years go by, and you think, ‘How the hell did that happen?’” Danielak said with a laugh. “We were lucky enough to get in there, keep it going, keep it fresh and have fun.”

The Party in the Park is not trying to follow in the oversized footsteps of the Rally the River, but instead is focusing on free shows by popular local bands as a way to get people downtown and to support Toledo businesses, according to Cheryl Hardy of ConnecToledo.

“We are making it free so that people can come downtown and listen to some live music, but what we’re hoping is they’ll stay downtown and they’ll go see a show, or they’ll go to a bar or restaurant, have dinner, grab a cocktail and say, ‘Geez, we really like it downtown. Maybe we’d like to live downtown, or maybe we’ll move our office downtown,’” Hardy said.

“That’s a big ask, but it starts by getting people downtown and seeing what’s available down here.”

The Beef Carvers, who have gone through several personnel changes over the decades, have held steady as a crowd favorite in Toledo and Northwest Ohio.

The current lineup basically has been the same since 2000, said Danielak, who plays guitar. His brother Steve Danielak plays bass, Michael Todd Smith is the lead singer, and Mike Barker plays drums.

“We’ve been able to keep it together because we’re actually friends. We get along and understand each other. The biggest part about keeping a band together is just to be able to tolerate each other,” Danielak said. “If you want to have something you can rely on, it’s all about the person.”

The Beef Carvers’ list of musical influences includes the Beatles, R.E.M., Tragically Hip, the Replacements and Led Zeppelin. 

“Our original plan was to build up the crowds with covers and slowly work in our original songs. We did that for a while, but now we do mostly covers,” Danielak said,

The Beef Carvers have played most of the local clubs and concert venues, performing for as many as 20,000 people when they opened for Pat Dailey, and for as few as two people in a desolate hotel ballroom. 

The band came close to setting an attendance record at the Main Event, the former music hot spot in East Toledo. “[Owner] Robert Croak told me we only missed the record by 50 people and that the band that beat us was Type-O Negative out of New York, so that’s pretty cool,” Danielak said.

The musicians typically start their shows with edgy, alternative rockers by their favorite artists, including obscure bands such as School of Fish and the House Martins, then shift into more familiar rock standards as their night progresses.

Part of their success is the interaction with fans.

Hardy said the music business has changed drastically since the Rally by the River era, and organizers of the Party in the Park opted to feature local bands instead of national acts. 

Hardy said she is confident that the free Party in the Park concerts will become a popular annual series.

“We feel that some of the talent we have in local bands can really carry the concert series. We’re banking on our local talent to really bring it, and we think they are going to. So we’re excited about that. 

“It also means that the money stays in Toledo – the band money, all of our local production money, everything that we’re investing in this program – is staying in town and is part of the economic development of our downtown atmosphere and the vibrancy and the energy we’re trying create,” she said.

Hardy pointed out that 10 local craft beers will be available at the concerts, along with four national brands and spirits from a local liquor distributor.

Huge crowds are expected for special events, such as the July 4 fireworks show, the June 13 hot air balloon glow, the Aug. 1 Jeep Fest, and the Aug. 29 drone show, but for the concerts featuring local bands, “I think a couple thousand is a more reasonable number for our first year.”

Party in the Park Lineup

The 2025 Party in the Park concerts will be held from 6-9 p.m. in Promenade Park, 400 Water St., Toledo. Admission is free.