Photo by Samantha Davis. The Fabulous Armadillos headline Sounds of Summer Saturday night in Marshall. Maiden Dixie, Broken Oak, White Keys, Singing Q’s and Hope Rasmussen were among the other festival artists.

MARSHALL — Bringing the Marshall and southwest Minnesota community together for another successful weekend, the Sounds of Summer live music this year brought in a variety of genres and ages with large crowds for two evenings of fun.

The festival grounds rapidly fill with fans and community members Saturday night to see headlining band The Fabulous Armadillos. But, the party got started early with Maiden Dixie and Broken Oak as openers. The White Keys and Singing Q’s also kicked off the live-music fun on Friday night, as did Hope Rasmussen on Thursday.

“I just love live music in general, and I think it’s super fun the community that we have here,” festival goer Sydni Badertscher said. “Even last year, it feels like there’s more people, so I really like that.”

The crowd began to grow larger throughout Maiden Dixie’s set, who played a plethora of genres ranging from Ozzy Osbourne to Dolly Parton.

The pit area directly in front of the stage also began to fill with dancing fans and they finished their set with a cover of Fishin’ in the Dark by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

“I am a big country gal, so I like that there’s country vibes,” Seely Stockmoe, another concert-goer said.

Sounds of Summer was held in a different area this year in the Whitney parking lot in front of the Adult Community Center and the back of Main Street, which has previously been held across from the Schwans parking lot. The move this year was due to construction.

Yet, besides the new area, it didn’t alter the amount of fun to be had and was received well by the public.

“I think the set up is amazing, like how big the stage is and how big the pit is,” Badertscher said. “By like 10 p.m., it is just filling [around] the stage. It’s so fun to see everyone singing and everything.”

Both Stockmoe and Badertscher commented on the size of this year’s festival, noting they both feel as if it’s even bigger than a year prior.

“I think it was another record year for sure,” festival organizer Brock Klaith said. “It seems like it drastically grows every year.”

Beyond the music, the Whitney lot also welcomed other activities like a kids tractor pull and tractor rides, food vendors, and inflatables and ax throwing toward the back of the lot.

“There’s so many community [activities] for families, which is so fun,” Badertscher said. “There’s even bouncy houses, which is great.”

With the lot now filled with people from front to back, the Fabulous Armadillos went onto stage with a large applaud and flood of cheers from fans as they opened their set with a cover of Hard to Handle by The Black Crowes.

All Sounds of Summer live music brought the crowd back with covers of classic hits to spark nostalgia, along with a mix of newer songs.

The Fabulous Armadillos went on to open their set with The Best by Tina Turner and included some ABBA with a cover of Knowing Me, Knowing You.

The crowd in the pit continued to grow with people dancing, as the evening carried on with the entertainment and excitement.

“Those are [all] probably a couple of the best bands, in the region and in the state,” Klaith said. “We were very happy with how everything ended.”

This was also a busy weekend for Marshall with welcoming new people to the community, as Sounds of Summer was an opportunity for the new Southwest Minnesota State University students to get indulged with the area.

Stockmoe and Badertscher, who are current students, noted they were there to help bring in the new class and get them introduced to the community where everyone was already together for a night of music.

“I’d say my favorite part [of Sounds of Summer] right now is just seeing all these people, and just being able to meet people,” Stockmoe said. “I love talking to people, and saying ‘Hi,’ and everyone is just so sweet. It just is another reminder of why we’re going to college here. It’s because of the community.”