Sherman and Denison are wrapping up what some are describing as the best summer on record for live music. The cities concluded their annual free concert series last week as Hot Summer Nights and Music on Main held their final shows Thursday and Friday, respectively.

Officials for both cities said the shows were a success this year with Sherman reporting record crowds for Lights on the Lake and strong attendance throughout the season. Meanwhile Denison’s Music on Main consistently drew crowds to Forest Park each week, officials said.

Sherman talks 30th HSN series

Sherman city officials said this year’s concerts saw an increase of per concert attendance over last year, including the largest attendance for a Lights on the Lake Independence Day show in the history of the event.

“As far as the years that I have been directly involved, it was by far the easiest year to get through,” Sherman Community and Support Services Manager Nate Strauch said. “The quality of the shows were all top notch and the friendliness of the performers, which you never know what it’s going to be like, was excellent as well.”

Throughout June and July, Sherman played host to artists from a variety of genres each Thursday night ranging from 90s alternative band Wheat to Don Felder, formerly of the Eagles.

While 2023 saw a larger attendance overall when compared to 2024, Strauch attributed this to the higher number of concerts due to the calendar. However, on a show-by-show basis, 2024 saw a higher average attendance for each show than in 2023.

The highest attended show was likely June 13’s performance by country musician Easton Corbin with nearly 5,000 estimated to have crowded the Kidd-Key Park. Strauch said country artists have traditionally done well with Sherman audiences.

“We have really prided ourselves on trying to appeal to a large variety of people,” he said. “We know that there’s other cities around here that prefer to focus on country and that makes sense because it really is the most popular genre.”

The recent successes of the annual concerts can be attributed in part to the efforts of Mayor David Plyler, Strauch said. This included pushing to utilize the city’s hotel occupancy taxes to help fund the series.

“It definitely paid off in terms of generating tourism to the city, which is what those monies are supposed to be designed for,” Strauch said.

Plyler helped push the event from being mostly a local show to one featuring touring talents that draws from across the region. The show has also expanded its focus into other genres in an attempt to widen its audiences.

“We always tried to do a classic rock show, several country shows and typically one or two acts from the 90s,” Strauch said. “We always tried to kind of add something new every year to see how it goes.”

The new inclusion this year was a performance by A.B. Quintanilla III and the Kumbia All Starz, which was the second highest attended concert of the series, Strauch said. The band was initially booked after the series had struggles in recent years to book major draws for the final concert of the year. The Kumbia All Starz were recommended by City Council Member Henry Marroquin.

“That concert exceeded all of our expectations both in terms of the quality of the show and in terms of the number of people who came out for it,” Strauch said.

The city is still working to achieve one of its goals in adding variety to the show each year: including more Black artists, Strauch said.

Despite the successes of the other concerts, the largest draw of the summer was the annual Lights on the Lake show, which featured the Beach Boys in what Strauch described as the largest show in the history of the event to his knowledge. Nearly 14,000 people attended the show in Pecan Grove Park West.

Strauch said the city is preparing to maintain its budget for the next year even after Plyler reaches his term limit and a new mayor takes the seat.

The events have proven their worth to the city by both promoting Sherman and its tourism but also drawing in tax dollars from outside the community. Strauch estimated that only about 30 percent of the audience for the shows lives in Sherman.

“It is a huge impact on our downtown economy in particular, but really to our city’s sales taxes in general,” he said.

Denison sees consistent crowds for Music on Main

Just a few miles to the north, Denison also saw success in 2024 with its annual Music on Main concert series. The event ran each Friday throughout the summer.

Organizers and city officials said this year’s event saw a consistent draw of over 1,000 attendees to Forest Park each week with strong showings throughout the series.

“I’m super happy with how this year turned out,” Main Street Coordinator Grant Yoder said. “I think, looking over the past five years of attendance, this year was our most consistently high attended event and series. So, we are super excited about that.”

Yoder attributed the success to multiple factors including interest in the music and artists, but also a heightened use of streaming to promote the event and local vendors and businesses.

Organizers for the event always try to focus on what genres and styles of music will resonate with the crowd the most, with country proving to be a strong draw. However, rock artists have also fared well over the years in Denison.

“We definitely have country and we try to tailor our music to what our audience wants,” Yoder said. Last week, we actually put out surveys for what kind of music people want to see in the future and country was the biggest response. We are always trying to diversify.”

The concert series is a valuable event for the city as it serves as a marketing and advertising tool for downtown and its businesses, Yoder said. As people come downtown for the concerts, city officials hope visitors will take a moment to become acquainted with the city and what it has to offer.

“It is a way for our local businesses to be highlighted, but we also want people to be comfortable in our downtown,” he said. “We want them to come out and visit whether they are local or not.”

While planning has only begun for the upcoming season, Yoder said officials are looking forward to returning the event to Heritage Park in the coming years. The park was the traditional home to the concert series until 2020, when it was moved to nearby Forest Park for additional spacing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, the park is closed for renovations as a part of the second phase of the city’s Designing Downtown Denison project.