Release Date: April 25,2025
The City of Akron’s Lock 3 Announces 2025 Summer Schedule
Lock 3 welcomes summer and welcomes you downtown!
Akron, Ohio, April 25, 2025 — Lock 3, Akron’s Central Park, is gearing up for its first summer season in its newly renovated space with an exciting mix of live music, festivals, activities, and events that celebrate the spirit of the city. From concerts under the stars with local and national acts to cultural gatherings and family-friendly fun, Lock 3 will be a vibrant hub for connection and celebration. While a full schedule of concerts and events is available now, including 60 bands, additional headlining national shows will be added in the weeks ahead. Visit Lock3Live.com to view the full schedule.
In celebrating Lock 3’s inaugural summer season Akron Mayor Shammas Malik said, “This new chapter builds on Akron’s rich tradition of bringing people together in shared spaces to enjoy the energy of community life. As Akron welcomes this fresh season of fun and festivity, Lock 3 invites everyone to come together, discover common ground, and find joy in all that makes this city unique. It's more than a park—it’s a place where Akron’s heart beats loudest, and where everyone belongs.”
MUSIC
The music lineup cuts a new path for downtown programming with headlining national acts Priscilla Block, Chris Janson, Kirk Whalum, Dave Hollister, and The Legendary Wailers punctuating a season blending fresh local and regional acts with returning fan favorites. The 2025 Lock 3 Survey feedback demanded greater breadth in genres to attract residents and visitors to the space. The 2025 Summer season delivers with classic rock, R&B, alternative, country, jazz, gospel, reggae, and more.
Among the 60 bands currently scheduled you can find Lock 3 newcomers The Vindys, The Shootouts, Off Leash, The Labra Brothers, Buck Naked Band, Mourning [A] BLKStar, and Benny Lava & the Guavas, to name a few. Among the programming you can also still find certain classic rock tribute acts on select Friday nights like Zoso, Bruce in The USA, Draw the Line, Full Moon Fever, and Hotel California. Visitors can freshen up their Friday evening mix with Carlos Jones and the PLUS band, Overboard, and Akron’s Real Deal. Old School Soul, a staple in Lock 3 programming, gets a new spin in 2025 as Soulful Saturday, featuring Dave Hollister and the Relatively Jammin Blues Band.
The renovated space allows for a 550-chair reserved seating area in front of the Maynard Performance Pavilion at Lock 3 and an expansive, beautiful Knight Lawn suitable for up to 2500 guests. Events will range from free events to ticketed reserved seating and free lawn seating for national acts. This will enhance the experience for visitors and allow for more well-known acts to appear in the lineup.
Howard Parr, Executive Director of the Akron Civic Theatre, along with The Civic’s booking, box office and union technical teams, are engaged by the City to contract performers and manage the performances and stage. Parr has been a part of Lock 3 programming since its early days and reflecting on the change of programming in 2025, says, “Many communities learned from Lock 3’s successes in the past and have modeled that programming to the point that its everywhere. I can’t imagine a better time for Lock 3 to emerge with this new programming. It honors and expands on the success of the past while pushing open doors to a new future. It turned a corner.”
FESTIVALS
Festivals also continue to grow in popularity and bring celebrations of culture and character with 11 festivals scheduled for summer and more to come in the Fall. Lock 3 will continue to host favorite local festivals and programming like the African American Cultural Festival (featuring Switch), Italian American Festival (featuring Disco Inferno, Fleetwood Macked, and RoxxyMoron), Pickle Fest (featuring Massive Hotdog Recall), Akron Pride Festival, We Are The Weirdos, Akron City Fest, Rubber City Jazz Festival (featuring Kirk Whalum), Gospel Sundays, and Polymer Palooza.
To those favorites, the space will welcome new events including kicking off the summer with Live @ the Lock Music Showcase on May 24th, The Bicentennial Heart of Akron Celebration July 3-5th featuring Sample the City - a food tasting experience and fireworks show as well as Dogtoberfest Sept. 13th. A full list of festivals, events and movies are available at lock3live.com.
More than $17M has been invested in making Lock 3 an inviting, beautiful, ADA accessible, and family-friendly venue. Of the newly renovated space and programming, Director of Economic Development Suzie Graham Moore commented, “Our goal is to program the space in a way that every resident finds an exciting opportunity to come downtown this summer. We are thrilled to program the space with music, festivals, events, and activities that help to lift the identity of Akron as a welcoming place in the heart of Akron.”
PARTNERSHIPS
The design of the newly renovated space emerged as an outcome of Reimagining Civic Commons, a national initiative to reinvigorate public spaces to create value, celebrate nature and connection to the environment, engage citizens, and encourage social gatherings that promote belonging across all income levels and backgrounds. Programming the new space continues through collaboration with the Akron Civic Theatre, Downtown Akron Partnership, and Ohio and Erie Canalway Coalition (OECC) - all partners in the Akron Civic Commons convened by Dan Rice, President and Chief Executive Officer of OECC. “We are excited to partner with the City of Akron on the inaugural season of the new Lock 3 with new national performers at the Maynard Performance Pavilion at Lock 3, festivals and events as we celebrate our bicentennial,” said Rice.
The John S. and James. L. Knight Foundation, an integral partner and funder of Reimagining Civic Commons, will support the 2025 season with a presenting sponsorship. Adding national acts to lift the visibility of Akron required additional funding to test the model and mitigate risk. Knight Foundation support allowed space and programming to leap forward. Knight Foundation’s Akron Program Director, Kyle Kutuchief, said, “The new Lock 3 is a place where people come together to relax, connect and build community. High-quality music is yet another reason for people to enjoy this excellent new park and downtown Akron.”
The City of Akron will partner with Downtown Akron Partnership (DAP) as the location for new DAP programming and favorite signature events like Meet on Main, Mid-Day on Main, Juneteenth, Latin Festival, and the Smells Like Snow Coffee Festival in the Fall. DAP is looking forward to programming the new space in addition to their other downtown programming and neighborhood services like walking escorts, beautification, cleaning, and safety services. DAP President, Kimberly Beckett added, "The new Lock 3 is a vital part of the re-energization of downtown. Not only is it packed with great things to do for all ages and interests, but it's a place people will want to spend time in all summer long. Downtown Akron Partnership is thrilled to welcome everyone to Lock 3; when you visit, we're here to help you to enjoy all the neighborhood has to offer." For more on DAP programming and services, visit downtownakron.com.
For a complete list of attractions, calendar, and hours of operation, visit lock3live.com. For group sales, party packages, private rentals, and fundraising opportunities at www.lock3live.com call 330.375.2877 or e-mail inquiries to lock3@akronohio.gov.