Sioux City's Saturday in the Park Music Festival

Fireworks. Funnel cake. Ferris wheel. Funk music.

Sioux City's biggest and best music festival, Saturday in the Park features all that and more, and you're going to want to be part of the tens of thousands of people who flock to Grandview Park on the first weekend of July to be a part of the fun! Here's your guide to attending Sioux City's Saturday in the Park Music Festival.  *2024 UPDATE CURRENTLY IN PROGRESS!*

Crowd at a previous year of SITP, photo by R.W. 

Saturday in the Park Main Stage

The 2024 Saturday in the Park festival will bring us funk, blues, country, and rock! This year's concert on July 6th, 2023 is headlined by Bleachers, an indie-rock band led by none other than 11-time-Grammy-award winner, Jack Antonoff. Antonoff is a legendary pop music, songwriter, and producer known for collaborating extensively with Taylor Swift and also with musicians like Lana Del Ray, Florence + the Machine, and many more. 

(and heads-up Swifties: while Taylor and Travis have been spotted rocking out at Bleachers concerts like the one at Coachella, Taylor has a concert in Amsterdam on the 6th, so it's basically mathematically impossible for her to get to SITP even if she wanted to. So, you should totally come anyway...but don't expect her to show up)

After the concert on Saturday night, Saturday in the Park usually features Sioux City's best Fourth of July fireworks show, beginning sometime between 10:30pm and midnight. (The last performance is always scheduled to be over by about 10pm, but sometimes things run behind schedule by the end of the day due to weather, technical delays, performer health, and/or audience demand for encores. When Aretha Franklin was here it was like midnight before we got fireworks...and totally worth the wait to hear more of her spectacular vocals!) This year, fireworks are scheduled for Saturday, July 1st after the last song from The Bleachers. 

Oher acts planned for the main stage in 2024 include (links are to artist youtube channels):

• Del Water Gap, a solo singer-songwriter from Brooklyn who plays introspective but upbeat modern indie pop
• Mike Campbell and the Dirty Knobs, a folksy country-pop group fronted by Mike Campbell of Tom Petty fame--if you're a Tom Petty fan at all you will definitely recongize his distinctive vocal style in songs like Electric Gypsy and many others
• Nikki Lane, a country music singer-songwriter whose songs have a bit of edge and vintage--almost rockabilly-flair to them

The Abe Stage at Saturday in the Park

The Abe Stage is Saturday in the Park's alternative stage, offering a wider variety of musical genres and a chance to discover new favorite musical artists! The Abe Stage is normally located near the southeast corner of the park by its famous Abraham Lincoln statue. 

Some of the acts performing on the Abe Stage for 2024 include:

• Twista

Saturday in the Park Kids Zone

The SITP Kids Zone will be open from noon to 7pm and features inflatables, pony rides, a petting zoo, bungee jump, carnival rides, and a clown, plus crafts and activities from LaunchPad Children's Museum, the Norm Waitt Sr. YMCA, and more! One new fun option for 2023 was Buff City Soap. Kids can make bath bombs at their booth in the kids zone. Many of the activities in the SITP Kids Zone are free, but not all, so be sure to bring some cash if you want your kids to be able to play on the inflatables, interact with the animals in the petting zoo, or participate in other Kids Zone activities that do have a charge. There are usually several hands-on activities and projects that are totally free though!

Food and Drink at Saturday in the Park

Saturday in the Park is also known for its great food trucks and vendors. Some of the announced 2024 vendors include:

• 
  

All smiles with noise-cancelling headphones!

Visitor Tips for Saturday in the Park

• Street parking is free in the neighborhoods around Grandview Park, but can fill up early, and all usual parking restrictions apply, like don't block fire hydrants, driveways, etc. 
• There is also usually a shuttle bus running regularly throughout the festival from the Tyson Events Center to Grandview Park, and there is lots of free, well-lit parking at the Tyson. 
• Admission to the festival itself is free, but food, drinks, rides, and anything you buy from vendors in Art Alley are not free, so I recommend bringing a small amount of cash. 
• The festival can be very loud, so I recommend noise cancelling headphones for all babies and for any kids (and adults!) sensitive to loud noises.
• Generally, the only toilets at the park that are available to the public during the festival are porta-potties, but the Hy-Vee on Pierce Street may have restrooms open to customers, and many businesses on Hamilton Boulevard have restrooms open to customers. 
• Only clear/translucent bags are allowed in the park during the festival. If you don't have one, expect that you may be subject to search or you may be turned away to find a new bag or leave your things in your car. 
• No outside food or drink. I checked with the Saturday in the Park organizers however and they said things for babies or toddlers like sippy cups, bottles, and cheerios are fine!

For more information

To find out more about Saturday in the Park on their website (which was redone in April 2024 and looks so cool! Nicely done, SITP!), on Twitter, their Facebook page, on YouTube, and on the Abe Stage Facebook page. 

For more info on the park itself, check out my guide to Sioux City's Grandview Park!

See you at the park!