TOLEDO, Ohio — A new jazz festival will be coming to Toledo later this year. Toledo City Council announced the “Glass City JazzFest” Monday at the location of the festival—Glass City Metropark.
The festival will be free to the public and will feature world-class jazz musicians. It will feature jazz musicians such as singer Joy Summerville and keyboardist Marcus Johnson.
Toledo City Councilwoman Cerssandra McPherson proposed this jazz festival after visiting the Glass City Metropark and thought it would be a perfect place for a concert. Toledo City Council approved $50,000 to get this event started.
“It’s a very costly event. But I believe with sponsorships," she said. "We’ll make our goal as far as the money."
A portion of the money raised for the festival will go toward scholarships for young people who want to play a musical instrument. McPherson said this is an important part of the event.
“This is to raise [money] for young people so they can learn to play an instrument [and] keep the heritage of jazz going forth.”
McPherson believes it is important to have events like this for the community and believes every Toledo resident deserves this.
“We deal with so much. There needs to come a time where we can just come [together], pull up a chair, sit down, enjoy some good music.”
This is a one-day event and will be on August 28 at the Glass Pavilion Metropark from noon to sunset.
“This year one day, next year two days. Toledo can do it,” McPherson added.
For information about the lineup for the event, visit the festival’s website.
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