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If you’re a long time Columbia resident, you probably remember regular concerts, events, and even big music festivals in the Soda City’s downtown Finlay Park before it fell into disrepair.
After Finlay Park reopened in late 2025, with a music festival no less, there had been a lot of speculation whether regular concerts or live music would be a feature of the newly updated park.
Now, we have our answer:
Yes!
In February, the city announced a concert series known as Finlay Fridays that will run through much of the rest of the year. Read on to learn all about this exciting new chapter in the park’s history and see what 2026 Finlay Park concerts you might want to attend!
When Are Finlay Park’s Finlay Fridays Concerts?
On Fridays, of course!
Ok, I imagine you gathered that.
The announcement of these Finlay Park free concerts came in early February 2026, and stated that the free concerts in Finlay Park, known officially as “Finlay Fridays: Live in the Park 2026” will run on, yes, Fridays during the following period:
February 20 through October 30.
That suggests there will be a free Finlay Park concert every Friday through the Spring, Summer, and into the Fall.
A full lineup has yet to be announced (more on the acts announced so far below), so it’s possible there may be other events or interruptions, but for much of the year, at least the decent weather parts of it, there looks to be a fun, free concert in Finlay Park every Friday.
What to Expect During Finlay Park Concerts
Every Friday will feature at least one local band, as well as food and beverage options.
I made it to the first Finlay Friday of 2026, so have a better idea of what to expect moving forward based on personal experience now.
Honestly, considering it had been blistering cold so much of January and February, the first free concert at Finlay Park on February 20 just happened to have absolutely terrific weather in the 60s.
It was a gorgeous night, and I enjoyed checking it out. I’ll include some practical notes on what I noticed to help you know what to expect in the sections below.
By the way, if you haven’t been to the newly revitalized park yet, be sure to check out my complete guide to Finlay Park.
Just in case it isn’t clear, admission is free, and should be open to all ages with these being family friendly events.
Food Trucks
During that first concert of 2026, there were 3 food options: Karen’s Food truck, that had stuff like pulled pork sandwiches, chicken tenders, chicken sandwiches, and the like, a little hot dog stand, and a “fair food” trailer that served up strictly desserts like ice cream and fried oreo type things.
To be honest, I was a little underwhelmed by this. Karen’s looked ok, a tad overpriced, but that’s almost all food trucks today. There was a really long line though.
The hot dogs did look reasonably priced. If I had gotten food, that’s probably what I would have gotten.
It’s not clear if there will be the same vendors every time or a rotation.
I hope they’ll have a few more options at future Finlay Fridays, similar to the 5 or 6 choices they had at the opening festival to make it sort of like a mini Soda City market.
I thought turnout was pretty good, although again, that weather was just about perfect for February. Hopefully that encourages them to get a few more vendors out there for future Finlay Fridays.
Beer Sales
Although alcohol is normally prohibited at Finlay Park, I can confirm there are beer sales at the Finlay Fridays free Finlay Park concerts.
Just to the left of the stands, and kind of hidden on the opposite side of where the food trucks were, there was a little beer stand.
They had Bud Light, Michelob, White Claws, and Wicked Weed Pernicious. There may have been more options, but I made a note of those.
Beer sales were cashless, so you’ll need a credit or debit card in addition to showing your ID to get a wristband.
I sipped on a Pernicious while catching a bit of the band after walking around and taking photos. I can’t remember if my $7.53 tab included my dollar tip or not. Certainly not cheap, but not crazy outrageous either.
You Can Bring Chairs
Despite the park’s normal clear bag only policy, there were plenty of people who brought things like camping chairs and blankets, which I guess makes sense.
There were plenty of kids and dogs too.
The band did start promptly at 6 pm. I only stuck around until a bit after 7, around the time they took a break.
I thought the sound was great too. I posted up near the back of the main lawn, known as the Oval, to sip my beer and thought I could hear pretty well despite being pretty far from the stage. I didn’t think it seemed overly loud when I walked around closer either.
Oh, and I enjoyed the Reggie Sullivan Band. Not everyday you get a see a funky upright bass!
Parking
I somehow managed to snag a spot on Taylor, probably like 30 yards from the park entrance, and just before starting time at 5:55.
I think I just got incredibly lucky and someone had left right before I came by.
There did look to be a fair amount of street parking around the park, and the lot on the corner of Taylor and Gadsen did look to be open, but I can’t 100% confirm that. If anyone who did notice one way or another would like to let us know what you saw in the comments, that’d be great.
Given that there isn’t a whole lot of night time things to do in the couple block vicinity of the park, I’d think you should be able to find a spot ok.
Keep in mind that City of Columbia parking meters do technically apply until 7 pm on Fridays.
Most of the street parking around here uses the Passport App and does not have an actual meter you can feed coins anymore, by the way.
I didn’t think to confirm if the Laurel Street Parking lot at the top of the park was open or not or if it was being used for equipment. I’d love anyone who knows to drop a comment below!
What Time are the Free Finlay Park Concerts?
As part of the announcement of Finlay Fridays 2026, the events are slated to run from 6 pm to 9 pm.
What Bands Will Play at the Finlay Park Free Concerts?
As noted above, the full 2026 lineup for the Friday Finlay Park concerts has not been announced, but the initial announcement did include the first 6 acts, so all the free Finlay park concerts on Fridays through March.
It’s unclear when the rest of the lineup will be announced, but I’d hazard, if that first announcement is any indication, they’ll be announcing a month or two at a time.
Here are the acts announced here so far:
- February 20th: The Reggie Sullivan Band
- Genre: R&B and variety. More info here.
- February 27th: Jon Rooks Band
- Genre: Acoustic R&B/Pop. More info here.
- March 6th: Opus & The Frequencies
- Genre: Funk/Rock/Pop. Band website here.
- March 13th: St. Pats Pre-Party with Slim Pickens
- Genre: Bluegrass/Folk. Band Facebook page here.
- March 20th: Jazz in the Park with ColaJazz
- Genre: Jazz; unclear if one or multiple artists. ColaJazz website here.
- March 27: DemBoyzGood
- Genre: Hip-Hop/Funk. Interview with the band here and Band’s Instagram here.
I will do my best to update as we learn more as well as hopefully get to a few myself and include some photos and first hand info on what to expect.
As always though, I’m not an official representative of the park or the city, so you may want to double check on lineups in case there are any changes or I miss an announcement.
Ready to Enjoy these Finlay Park Concerts?
I hope you found this schedule for Finlay Park’s Finlay Fridays 2026 concert series useful and planning.
I look forward to checking them out myself, and I’d love for you to share what you’re looking forward to or what you thought if you go to one of the early ones in the comments.
Cheers and Happy Exploring!