Flint, MI—Flint residents are invited to “shake loose” at a concert in Hasselbring Park this weekend.
On July 24, the Friends of Hasselbring Park is hosting a free concert in the park, located at 1002 W. Home Ave, to memorialize loved ones who have died due to COVID-19, but also to celebrate survivors and essential workers.
The event is called “Shake Yourself Loose,” named after the song by Vickie Winans.
“We’re gonna shake ourselves loose from COVID, from all this gun violence, from whatever’s got you chained and bound in life, we’re just gonna shake ourselves loose,” said one of the organizers, Bonnie Grass.
Grass said this event was put together with the help of Hasselbring Senior Center’s Executive Director Beverly Lewis, the Summer Youth Initiative, the Community Foundation for Greater Flint, Keep Genesee County Beautiful, and the Neighborhood Engagement Hub.
Grass said she wanted to do something to bring the community together after a challenging year.
“My number one focus was to get the community out and get them engaged because we’ve been cooped up in the house for over a year, and 2020 was a very tragic year for a lot of us,” she said. “We lost loved ones, a lot of members at the center, and we just wanted to do a tribute and memorialize them.”
The first half of the event will be gospel, Grass said. Pastor Kenneth Stewart, of the House of Prayer Missionary Baptist Church, will perform a song, and there will be performances from other gospel singers and rappers too. The second half of the event will be R&B, featuring a band led by DJ Gardell Haralson.
There will also be a performance from local line dancing group, the Smooth Steppers.
The concert starts at 5 p.m. and will go until people get tired, Grass said. People looking to attend can bring lawn chairs, umbrellas, or stay in their cars to listen to the show from a distance.
Grass said masks and hand sanitizer will be available, and that they will be practicing social distancing.
