Music in the Food Park: Hillsdale’s Community Stage

[July 18, 2025]

The Hillsdale Food Park Summer Concert Series kicked off last month and continues through August. The free weekend shows feature local musicians performing in a variety of genres, with concerts on Saturday evenings and Sundays at 12:30pm. Food carts are open during shows.

Food Park manager Marc Winter, who books the talent, is working to raise the Food Park's visibility. His goal: to make the Food Park "into the best place to gather in Hillsdale and reinvigorate excitement about the community possibilities of a place like the Park.”

New this year is a regular Open Mic Night, with remaining slots on the last Saturday of July and August. Winter promises that if the open mic formula proves popular, those sessions will expand to every Saturday next year.

A sampling of last years' acts: The AM (Power Pop Twins); Swing & Standards Trio; Lana Shea (Soulful Songwriter); Nuisance (Ida B Wells Alternative band); Emily Ra (Hip Hop Healer).

Performances are held on the Josh Kadish Community Stage, built in 2019 by by the Hillsdale Community Foundation (HCF) in 2019 in collaboration with Food Park owner Richard Stein. The stage is dedicated to the late Josh Kadish, who died in 2018. Kadish, a longtime Hillsdale resident, was active in many local community groups over more than 20 years, including HCF, the Hillsdale Farmers' Market, and Neighborhood House. In addition to being a distinguished attorney and law professor, Kadish was an avid musician, with talents as an oboist, guitarist, songwriter, and singer.

HCF Board Members Dave Hawkins (foreground) and Michael Reunert dig the ditch for the wiring.

Stein designed the stage; framing, roofing, and wiring were completed by contractors, while finishing touches—including ditch digging and installation of the stage itself—were done by HCF volunteers.

Since its debut, he stage has hosted free concerts, donation-based HCF fundraisers, and civic engagement events like last year's candidate meet-and-greet. 

Winter invites anyone interested in performing or becoming involved to get in touch at hillsdalefoodpark@gmail.com.

Find the full calendar at https://hillsdalefoodpark.com/calendar.

—Valeurie Friedman

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