Some of the nation’s top DJs and musicians will converge on Franklin Park in downtown D.C. for the third annual Rock the Park DC WKNDR music festival on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 21-22, 2023.
Artists including Miguel Migs ft. Lisa Shaw, Rich Medina, J.Rocc, Dam-Funk, Trouble Funk, and Kenan Orr will perform, their sounds selected by veteran producers Abby O’Neill and Adrian Loving. The event is in collaboration with DowntownDC BID.
“There is definitely a sort of centralized desire to resuscitate downtown D.C. post-pandemic,” said O’Neill. “To be able to offer free programming and free music and free concerts to the DMV community at large is certainly needed to create a wellspring of joy and to also stay relevant with what’s happening in the national landscape in terms of other cities.”
The festival’s inception was in October 2021, when O’Neill and Loving were presented with an opportunity to host a series of shows at the park amid the pandemic. Franklin Park, the largest green space in downtown D.C., reopened in Sept. 2021 following a $21 million renovation, facilitated by a partnership between the city and the National Park Service.
Over time, Rock the Park DC WKNDR has earned international acclaim as a free music festival, boasting talent comparable to the nation’s best, said Loving, a D.C.-based event producer and DJ with more than 20 years in the industry.
Loving, an alumnus of Howard University, anticipates a considerable influx of attendees from the Howard homecoming events over the weekend.
“Howard’s homecoming, they’re going to be coming from the yard and there’s going to be an influx of multi-layered generations of people, you know, older people, younger people, all kinds of people coming together,” said Loving. “So I think you’ll see a kind of a mix of a community that is kind of unique, and I think Rock The Park is starting after three years of development, sort of niche community, and it’s growing.”
The festival is scheduled to proceed rain or shine.
O’Neill emphasized what she hopes festivalgoers will take away from the event:
“Exhilaration, the feeling of liberation in the moment being present. Community and camaraderie and fellowship and unparalleled joy.”
