Some summers you remember for what you did. This one, you’ll remember for where you were standing.
A dirt track under tarps. A plaza in Valparaiso as the sun went down. A park in Crown Point in the pouring rain – and nobody leaving. A September night at Bulldog Park where the last song ended and nobody wanted it to.
That was Hometown Jams summer 2026. Four shows, three venues, and a Region that showed up like it had something to prove.
The openers were the whole point
Everybody comes for the headliner. But if you were paying attention this summer, you know the truth: the openers were doing something special.
Ashley Cooke opened the entire season at the Fairgrounds. Her song “your place” has since gone No. 1 at country radio.
Dylan Raymond played two Hometown Jams stages this summer – the Lake County Fairgrounds in August, Bulldog Park in September. Terre Haute to Crown Point. The kid’s basically family now.
In Valparaiso, Ashlyn Ellis – a teenager – walked onto her hometown stage and played it like she’d been doing it for years. Right beside her, Trey Pendley, fresh off the release of his debut album Signs of Life – all the way from Toad Suck, Arkansas (population 200, and yes, that’s really what it’s called).
The openers weren’t the warmup. Half the time, they were the discovery.
Blake Proehl brought his music to Bulldog Park in Crown Point with Niko Moon, performing through the rain before releasing his debut six-track EP, Hearts Don’t Break, just two weeks later.
KC Bruner and Jake Banfield closed out the summer’s opener run – two rising artists who reminded everybody why we bet on openers in the first place.
Eight opening sets. Eleven artists. The future of country music played our stages this summer, mostly before the rest of the world knew their names.
You had to be there
You had to be there for the tarps.
The night before the Fairgrounds show, the HJ and Fair crews covered the entire dirt track — an entire venue under tarps – to keep it dry.
Preview Night, the official kickoff, our second trip back to the fair. Then Lee Brice, Ashley Cooke, Dylan Raymond, DJ Kyndred between sets, and our own version of a “Parking Lot Party.”
Nobody knew yet what the summer would turn into.
You had to be there for the code word.
We stashed pairs of Scotty McCreery tickets at Fluid Coffee in Valparaiso – all you had to do was walk in and say the word.
And after the storms tore through NWI, we donated 276 tickets to families who’d been hit, and moved one family from the back of the lawn all the way to front VIP.
That’s the whole thing, right there.
You had to be there for the rain.
September 19, Bulldog Park. Niko opened with “Get Country,” the sky opened up, and Crown Point danced anyway.
The #richinlife mailbox — postcards about surviving cancer, about anniversaries, read aloud from the stage. Strangers who weren’t strangers by the encore.
That’s the night people will tell stories about. Not in spite of the rain. Because of it.
You had to be there for the golden tickets.
We hid a whole stash of them at Radius in Crown Point – grab one, get money off a meal and a pair of Niko Moon tickets. Radius even made a Niko Moon inspired cocktail.
And for the finale, a scavenger hunt around the Crown Point Square: 10 pairs of Tenpenny tickets and 7 brew coupons for free drinks, hidden all over downtown.
Then Tenpenny — two days after dropping “Ain’t My Problem” — closed the book on the outdoor season.
“Drunk Me.”
“Truth About You.”
The lights came up.
Summer was over.
The constants
DJ Kyndred. Every show.
Opening nights, between sets, holding the energy while the stage reset. His fingerprints are on the entire summer.
And you. The Region.
You said the code word. You hunted the golden tickets. You danced in the rain.
Four shows don’t happen without the people in front of the stage.
We’re not done yet
The outdoor season is in the books, but we’re taking the whole thing inside.
Lakeview brings the Wreck My Night Tour to the Hobart Art Theater on October 23, with KG and The Bad Habits opening.
Doors at 6:00. KG at 7:15. Lakeview at 8:30.
If summer taught us anything: show up. Rain or shine. We’ll be there. So will you.
Grab your tickets. We’ll see you in Hobart.
Lakeview tickets available here – https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0700650C3B7764D4
Come for the concert. Stay for the hometown.