Music and the Market Concert Series

Every Saturday evening from June through September, downtown Paola's historic Park Square proves that the best civic infrastructure a small town can invest in isn't always concrete and steel—sometimes it's a gazebo.

Music and the Market pairs the Paola Farmers Market with live performances in the square's Victorian gazebo, drawing families with lawn chairs for an evening of dinner, fresh produce and baked goods, and music that runs into the sunset.

It's a modest premise, but that's precisely its strength: in an era when so much of community life has migrated online or behind screens, Paola has kept alive a simple weekly ritual that asks nothing more of its residents than to show up, sit down, and share a few hours with their neighbors.

It's become a genuine summer staple, one that combines live concerts with the farmers market nearly every Saturday from spring through early fall—and in doing so, it does more for a town's sense of identity than almost any amount of formal planning could. 

▶ While you're here, take a look at this thought piece and tell us if you agree or not: 

"Is Paola Quietly Becoming the Music Capital of the Region?"