By Greg Chrapek
WKTV Contributor
greer@wktv.org
Does the recent 90-degree heat have you in the mood for the beach? If so, then Thursday’s performance at the Kentwood Summer Concert Series will help achieve that mindset.
Hark Up Horns, featuring their Fun in the Sun Band, will bring plenty of summer-type, beach music Thursday to the lawn behind Kentwood City Hall. The concert runs from 7 to 8:30 p.m.
Along with the concert, food trucks will be on hand and the Kentwood Farmers Market will have plenty of vendors offering a wide variety of products. Concertgoers are encouraged to come early for the Farmers Market next door in the parking lot behind City Hall from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.
This week’s concert will have you feeling like you’re at the beach as Hark Up Horn’s Fun in the Sun Band brings an upbeat, summertime sound that’ll have concertgoers getting involved.
“Our Fun in the Sun Band plays all kinds of summertime music,” said Chris Hansen, Executive Director and Founder of Hark Up Horns. “We will have a lot of music from the 60s, 70s and 80s along with some new stuff. It will be a lot of summer-type music and it will be all pop-type music.”
The band will have concertgoers in a beach-type frame of mind with many of their summer songs.
“We have a Beach Boys medley,” Hansen said. “We also do some Beatles covers and some Paul Simon tunes. We will have some swing and pop-type stuff. It will be a lot of things that will get the people up and dancing to the music.”
The Fun in the Sun Band is one of several bands that are part of the Hark Up Music lineup that has been entertaining music lovers around West Michigan since the 1990s.
Hark Up is a faith-based music organization made up of skilled, West Michigan talent. They provide a diverse collection of programming suited for both private and community-centered events the year round. Hark Up has access to over 200 experienced, local musicians and is able to provide the perfect music for every occasion. From Sunday morning worship to community festivals and even small parties, Hark Up works with people to create an ideal musical experience.
“We have really been pushing to play more of the local, community events during the past four or five years,” Hansen said. “I’m not sure we have played Kentwood before, but we have played Walker and we used to play at the East Grand Rapids Fourth of July celebration and now we do the Fourth of July in Ada. We just did a show in Grandville and have one coming up in Hopkins so we get around a lot in West Michigan.”
The band encourages audience participation and does more than just play music to get concertgoers involved.
“We bring hula hoops and have a hula hoop contest,” Hansen said. “We also have a limbo pole and a twist contest. We also play the Macarena and get the people involved in that. We like to have a lot of audience participation.”
The group usually has a four-piece rhythm section, a four-piece horn section and from four to six vocalists.
Hark Up also is a non-profit 501c3 music and arts ministry that operates on a volunteer basis made possible by sponsors and donors whose aim is to share the power of music throughout West Michigan.
