FAIRFIELD — Fairfield Arts & Convention Center announces the new Summer Sun Series—a
season of free outdoor concerts on alternating Wednesday evenings from June 2nd through
August 11th this summer.
Featuring local and Iowa-based artists, the series of 6 outdoor concerts will take place at 7 pm
on the street in front of the Center at 200 N. Main Street in Fairfield. Admission is free and
audiences are encouraged to bring their lawn chairs for seating.
“As the restrictions continue to relax and we’re starting to see the other side of this pandemic, I
think folks are really ready to experience live music again,” says Lindsay Bauer, Executive
Director of the FACC. “With vaccination rates rising and infection rates falling here in Fairfield,
we felt good about moving forward with outdoor concerts this summer. That felt responsible.”
The Summer Sun series is produced in partnership with local nonprofit Fairfield Muse. Bauer
says, “Tim Britton of Fairfield Muse was instrumental (no pun intended!) in curating the lineup.
I’ve worked in the arts in Iowa a long time and definitely have some favorite Iowa artists myself,
but Tim really gave me the rundown on the huge roster of talented musicians we have here in
Fairfield.”
Laughs Bauer, “I have a list several lifetimes long now of amazing local bands I want to work
with.” She says as plans for hosting concerts again were beginning to coalesce, FACC wanted to
start with local and regional artists first. “Without local art there is no art. We had the funding to
provide paying work to artists again, and we were adamant about starting close to home.”
The free concert series is supported in part by 2021-22 Season Sponsors of the FACC as well as a
pending grant from the Arts Midwest GIG Fund. Last year’s 17-week live-streamed series, “Live
From the Sondheim,” was provided entirely on a volunteer basis by both performers and staff as
the organization reeled after funding and revenue losses due to the pandemic. Now, Bauer says,
FACC is financially sound and ready to get back to work.
The series is also supported by a memorial fund dedicated to the memory of Brian MacQueen, a
former staff member at FACC who recently passed away this March. MacQueen’s sister, Jennifer
Hamilton, started a fund in his honor to purchase the necessary upgrades to sound equipment
which will make outdoor concerts possible. When the summer series ends, the new equipment
will also improve the sound quality for indoor concerts in the 2021-22 Artist Series this fall.The full Summer Sun lineup is available on FACC’s website at fairfieldacc.com and audience
members are encouraged to follow the events on the organization’s Facebook page for
up-to-the-moment updates.