VALLEY CITY, N.D. — Oakland Grove will return for its sixth Bridges Arts Council Music in the Park concert performance on Wednesday, July 1. The band will perform at 7:15 p.m. at the City Park Bandshell, offering live music for all ages.
Oakland Grove is a Valley City family business operation that travels to play for community events, parties, car shows, fairs and festivals, primarily within a 150-mile radius of Valley City. The members of Oakland Grove are Dave, Maggie and John Oakland, a father, mother and son who made their home in Valley City in 2014.
Keyboardist Maggie (Gassmann) Oakland grew up on a family farm in rural Valley City and took her first music job at the Dakota Inn in Jamestown at the age of 17. She became acquainted with Dave Oakland while sitting in with the long-running Grand Forks jam band The Whackers around Y2K and subsequently joined his full-time band FIRE, performing virtually every weekend in North Dakota/ Minnesota venues until the birth of John in 2011. Maggie and Dave married in 2006.
Beyond her music, Maggie is a full-time unit director and psychotherapist for the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and she is a National Certified Guardian with Lighthouse Associates out of Northwood, North Dakota.
Prior to his time with The Whackers and his more than three decades with FIRE, guitarist Dave Oakland performed with North Dakota bands Deliverance, Lone Tree and Clockwork. He grew up on a family farm outside of Sarles, North Dakota, and began his long-lived music career at the age of 12 with high school bands the Squires and The Honest Truth.
At age 14, drummer John Oakland has now been performing live with Oakland Grove for half his life. He is currently a sophomore at Valley City High School and prefers summer gigs.
Oakland Grove is committed to providing fun but strictly family-friendly performances. Their songlist spans eight decades of popular rock and country hits and evolves constantly to stay fresh with the times, so even devoted fans will never hear the same setlist twice.
Bring a lawn chair to the park for this event. A freewill offering is taken for the continued support of the City Park Bandshell and Music in the Park. In case of inclement weather, the program will be moved to Valley City State University Larry J. Robinson Center for the Arts.
Sponsors who help make Music in the Park possible include the Bridges Arts Council, Valley City Tourism, Valley City Parks and Rwecreation, North Dakota Council on the Arts and businesses and individuals.
For questions, call Diane at 701-840-1743, or email [email protected]
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.jamestownsun.com ’
