Oldies, beach music to open Olden Days
Published 6:34 pm Tuesday, June 26, 2018
The Rhondels are back.
Friday’s edition of the Summer Concert Series will also be the opening of the Olden Days Festival in downtown, and the Virginia Beach-based band has been invited to kick off the festivities.
The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. on The Smithfield Times Gazebo Stage at 228 Main Street. Main Street will be closed for an antique auto exhibit and to allow for the larger-than-usual crowd that the Olden Days concert generates.
The Rhondels opened Olden Days for more than a decade, but were dropped in 2016 as officials of the county, which was underwriting the concert, worked on a tighter budget. This summer, a donation by Smithfield Ice Cream Parlor owner Margaret Carroll enabled Summer Concert Series organizers to invite the band back.
The concert series is cosponsored by the newspaper and the Isle of Wight Arts League. All concerts are free to the public. (This week’s concert is set to begin early to avoid significant overlap with the popular Ghost Walk, but most Friday concerts begin at 8 p.m.)