There’s no sugarcoating it: Downtown Burlington is at a challenging crossroads. Budget cuts, seemingly never-ending construction, homelessness, addiction and crime have darkened the Queen City’s once-bright cultural and commercial center. But this summer, two city organizations hope to remind locals and tourists alike that Burlington still has a lot to offer.
Coproduced by Burlington City Arts and Love Burlington, the new Summer in the City series presents more than 80 free events in City Hall Park and on the Church Street Marketplace. Ranging from live music to art installations to movie nights, the lineup includes longtime summer staples such as the lunchtime Summer Concert Series and Sunday Classical performances. Splash Dance, a DJ dance party on the park’s splash fountain, gives people a place to cool off on Fridays and Saturdays.
Summer in the City kicks off at City Hall Park with local jazz band Bruce Sklar Trio on Wednesday, June 4. Andrew Richards Quartet and Splash Dance with DJ Richie Conte follow on Friday, June 6.
Bigger-name acts will balance a slate of community favorites and up-and-coming musicians throughout the summer. Highlights include two groups hailing from Boston: Copilot, an Americana-pop band, and Cold Chocolate, who combine folk, funk and bluegrass.
Later in the season, Thursday evenings will feature Party on the Bricks with live music on the Marketplace, as well as Flicks in the Park, an outdoor film series in partnership with Vermont International Film Foundation. A sidewalk sale on the Marketplace will take place from August 6 to 10.
A summer exhibition on display from June 6 through September 14 at the BCA Center will feature the work of Jacob Hashimoto, who uses collage and printmaking to create suspended three-dimensional art. His mesmerizing site-specific installation, “a lowercase sky,” will respond to the architecture of the building.
New this summer is the Twilight Block Party, happening in City Hall Park every other Saturday from June through September. The event combines BCA’s Twilight Concerts and BTV Market into one, with concerts by bigger regional bands, food and drink, and local artist vendors.
“Art really is essential if we’re going to turn Burlington around.” Zach Williamson
BCA festival and events director Zach Williamson, who curated the series, is most excited for these block parties. Merging the concert series and market also allows BCA to cut production and staff costs in a year of budget constraints.
“We’re economizing while also doing exciting things,” Williamson said.
While BCA navigates a tight budget, it is also concerned about the vitality of the arts on a national scale. Amid federal cuts to the arts, which BCA described in a press release as “devastating,” the organization remains committed to making art accessible to all, Williamson said.
“We can see that what we do in City Hall Park is more and more important every day,” he said.
Williamson added that BCA events in the park often help ease downtown tensions on hot summer days. Live events bring “a completely different feeling to the park,” he said — “a feeling of community, a feeling of safety, of understanding.”
Art, he continued, can be part of the solution to what ails the city.
“It really discourages inappropriate behavior and encourages really positive behavior,” he said. “So through that, you can see that art really is essential if we’re going to turn Burlington around.”
Find the full Summer in the City schedule at burlingtoncityarts.org.
This article appears in The Animal Issue 2025.
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