Saturday in the Park's Main Stage lineup will be appropriately patriotic with acts featuring musical genres that were created in America.
As he has for the past several years, Phil Claeys (aka River-Cade's Kingdom of Riverssance's "Fallen Friar Phil") will start off the day by singing the National Anthem on the Grandview Park Bandshell at noon July 4.
Phil Claeys and his grandsons, Silas, left, and Sully, sing the National Anthem at the Grandview Park bandshell to kick off the 2025 Saturday in the Park festival.
After Friar Phil's howling, they'll bring out the big dogs ... or more precisely, MoonDogz.
A couple of familiar faces will follow in short order.
Bluesman Kris Lager has played at various Sioux City venues over the past 20 years or so, with or without the Kris Lager Band. At SITP, he is slated to play a solo set.
Bluesman Kris Lager, who has played at various Sioux City venues over the past 20 years, will be a Main Stage performer at Saturday in the Park on July 4.
Following Lager will be Joanna Connor, a powerhouse blues singer from the Windy City of Chicago. If you're attending the 7 p.m. July 3's Downtown Live concert at Fourth & Virginia Streets, you'll already know Connor as the show's headliner. She'll be doing double-duty the next day at Saturday in the Park.
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Joanna Connor, the headliner for the Downtown Live music series on July 3, will perform the next day on the Main Stage for Saturday in the Park.
After that, the New Orleans'-based Bon Bon Vivant -- featuring frontwoman Abigail Cosio and saxophonist/vocalist Jeremy Kelley -- will create “a sound that feels like a street parade, a late-night cabaret, and a rock show all rolled into one.”
With its mix of Americana and Bourbon Street party music, this is a band that will make you prouder than a catfish swimming in the Mississippi River.
Rising new artist Evan Honer will then blend acoustic folk and indie alternative pop in a set that will likely include his cover of Tyler Childer's "Jersey Giant."
Honer credited his dad for introducing him to the music of James Taylor, Jim Croce and the Eagles.
The critically acclaimed Marcus King Band will follow with some "soul-influenced psychedelic Southern rock."
A Greenville, South Carolina native, Marcus King's dad Marvin King was a well-known blues guitarist who also played with gospel acts, and his grandfather was a regionally popular musician.
The Marcus King Band will perform on the Main Stage at the 2026 Saturday in the Park festival.
Saturday in the Park headliner Joe Bonamassa said his dad exposed him to Brit rock legends like Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck.
The New Hartford, New York-born Bonamassa is doing his part in championing young American blues artists.
In 2011, he started the nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization Keep the Blues Alive Foundation. Nine years later, he created Keeps the Blues Alive Records, an independent record label that has supported artists like Dion, Joanne Shaw Taylor and Larry McCray.
The night will end on a high note with a drone show -- featuring American made drones -- as well as a fireworks show -- with firecrackers coming from China(?)
We're OK with that though.
A promotional video provided by Fantasy Drone Shows. The Norfolk, Nebraska, company will present a drone show at the conclusion of the Saturday in the Park music festival on July 4.
China can produce the things that make the boom-booms while America can supply the awesome beats.
