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MARSHALL -- After a year of COVID-19 restrictions, many Minnesotans are ready for events like town festivals to come back. Organizers of Marshall's Sounds of Summer are ready too, and are planning to bring back events like the grand parade and outdoor concerts Aug. 19-22.
"We're looking forward to having something more back to normal, so everyone can get together and have a good time," said Brock Klaith of the Sounds of Summer Committee. The festival is a big draw for the Marshall community, he said.
Earlier this week, Sounds of Summer got the official go-ahead from the Marshall City Council for a parade route and the use of a downtown parking lot. While social distancing rules meant last year's festival couldn't go on, Klaith said the Sounds of Summer committee went ahead with planning as normal for 2021.
This year, the festival will feature the band Nasty Habit, with Roxbury performing as the opening act. Roxbury is a well-known local band in the Minneota and Marshall area, and has played at Sounds of Summer before. In fact, they were also scheduled to perform at last year's festival, before it was canceled. Klaith said Nasty Habit is a band from Alexandria,and they perform music from a variety of artists.
"They're very good," he said.
There will be one change to this year's Sounds of Summer. Instead of holding events in the parking lot across from the Schwan's Company offices along College Drive, the festival applied to use the nearby Whitney parking lot, behind the downtown businesses on Main Street.
Klaith said the change was due to COVID-19 safety precautions -- Schwan's currently has a closed campus. Klaith said Schwan's has been a good partner with Sounds of Summer over the years, and "They are very willing to work with us." Hopefully, the venue change will be just for this year, he said.
In the meantime, organizers are excited to bring back fun and free events for the community, Klaith said.