Country stars Rascal Flatts will play a rare major concert in Canal Park, a benefit for Akron Children’s Hospital on Aug. 5.
The RubberDucks stadium seats 7,630 and fans will also be allowed on the field. Tickets are $65 for on-field access, $45 for a reserved seat in the stands, and go on sale at 10 a.m. May 5 on the RubberDucks website, at the stadium box office and by phone at 330-253-5151.
Gates will open at 6 p.m., with opening act Brother Trouble taking the stage at 7 and the main event at 8.
The “Rockin’ FORE the Kids” concert will benefit the hospital’s Showers Family Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders via local charity LOPen Charities.
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hord, the director of the Showers Family Center and associate chair of pediatrics for subspecialty practices at the hospital, said LOPen Charities have raised more than $500,000 for the center since 2003 through golf outings, concerts and other events.
“I am so excited that this year’s concert, featuring Rascal Flatts, will take place at Canal Park,” Hord said. “We have a strong partnership with the Akron RubberDucks and Canal Park is the home of the Showers Family Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders Annual Survivors Celebration Event which occurs in August.”
Jim Pfander, RubberDucks general manager and chief operating officer, said he and team owner Ken Babby recently devised a five-year plan that included ways to widen the park’s audience and impact on the community.
“We’re thrilled this is going to be a great event and most importantly raise money for Children’s Hospital,” Pfander said. “Bringing a big-time concert to downtown Akron is something we’ve wanted to do.”
Rascal Flatts, a multiplatinum-selling, award-winning country trio is a frequent attraction in Northeast Ohio. The band played June 25 at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls.
The current summer tour schedule does not have a Blossom stop, but does include a concert in Columbus, where the band was formed, at the Ohio State Fairgrounds on Aug. 3.
The group’s hits include Bless the Broken Road and What Hurts the Most.
Baseball parks have become popular concert venues — Billy Joel will play at Progressive Field in Cleveland on July 14 — but this is a rare event for Canal Park. Ideally, it will not be the last, Pfander said.
“Well, let’s see what the field looks like afterward,” he said, laughing.
“Having Canal Park as the epicenter of our community is our goal. It’s what we want to have happen and we want to find more events like this,” Pfander said, noting other nonbaseball events such as the Ballpark Festival of Beers, movie nights and an upcoming Wounded Warrior softball game.
Pfander said the park and the team’s primary goal and focus is to host 70 baseball games and develop players for the Cleveland Indians so future events such as other concerts will come from outside.
“We’re in the baseball business. We’re happy being the venue and we’ll let others worry about the details and line up the green M&Ms or whatever,” Pfander said.
Canal Park officials have already consulted with other parks that hold concerts and will have special protective material on the field similar to what Progressive Field will have for the Billy Joel show.
Though it is being touted as the first concert ever at Canal Park, the Rascal Flatts show will actually be the first concert on the field in 20 years.
A show with God’s Property, featuring Kirk Franklin, and singer Yolanda Adams, two of contemporary gospel music’s top acts, took place Aug. 15, 1997, and many fans left angry when the show was delayed more than two hours.
Malcolm X Abram can be reached at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3758. Read his blog, Sound Check Online, at www.ohio.com/blogs/sound-check Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/blinfisherABJ.