When you’re a musician, sometimes you play a show and the people come to you and sometimes you play a show when you bring the music to the people.

While the former category might include the well-trodden floors of a community’s bars, cafes, coffee shops, and concert halls, it’s the latter where you’re likely to happen across something truly unexpected and out of the ordinary. Many a musician is used to playing for people at night, and often indoors. The opportunity to play outside, and even when the sun is still shining, can be both a figurative and literal breath of fresh air for a musician. It’s why you see so many performers smiling while they play music in public spaces; there’s more chance for the unexpected to happen. The delight found in a toddler dancing to music in the park is only nearly matched by the delight stirred in the musicians themselves. 
Even more music can be found at Dearborn Music, located on the perimeter of Riley Park.
For all of the excitement that the big annual events bring to downtown Farmington each year, its weekly programming provides a constant throughline of reasons to visit downtown and its wealth of small businesses. The gap between the Art on the Grand festival in early June and the Farmington Founders Festival in mid-July, for instance, is bridged with three distinct music series that provide people a reason to stop downtown every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Each of those series run well past the Founders Festival as they stretch through the end of August, providing weekly entertainment until the Harvest Moon Festival returns with the fall in September.

Happening on most Wednesday afternoons this summer is the Lunch Beats in Riley Park music series, an exciting line-up of some of southeastern Michigan’s most talented and revered independent singer-songwriters. The series captures the attention of the lunchtime crowd, making them late for their plans as they’re drawn to the sounds of esteemed Ypsilanti songwriter Misty Lyn of Misty Lyn & the Big Beautiful fame; or an up-and-coming artist like folk/soul singer-songwriter Jill Govan.

Public art abounds throughout Riley Park and beyond.

Each event starts at noon in Riley Park, and is free and open to the public. This year’s complete line-up includes Greater Alexander, 6/11; Kyle Chase & Shepherd Smith, 6/18; Bob & Coltrane Monteleone, 6/25; Mark Jewett, 7/2; Jill Govan, 7/23; Bob Skon, 7/23; Bill Edwards, 7/30; Belhaj & McIntyre, 8/6; Nick Fugedi, 8/13; Misty Lyn, 8/20; and Heart Cruise, 8/27.

On Thursday evenings the music drifts out of Dinan Park, the crowdfunded pocket park that celebrated its grand opening in 2023. The smaller, intimate space provided by Dinan Park maintains a relaxed vibe covering a variety of genres and with a line-up that features a number of newcomers to the downtown Farmington scene. Sandwiched between Wina’s Therapeutic Thai Massage & Spa and Sipp Smoothie & Juice Bar, Dinan Park was created when the Downtown Development Authority captained a crowdfunding campaign to transform a small parking lot into a community asset.

And when the Dinan Foundation made a $25,000 contribution to the park campaign, thereby securing the naming rights to the park, it was building a park that hosted events like the Dinan Park Music Series that Foundation leader Cathy Dinan Dillon had in mind. As she said told us when those naming rights were first secured: “Community is such an important part of our lives, and having another place for people to connect, to be social and be together, I think that's really important. I think it adds to the appeal here as you're driving through; it might make you want to just stop and check it out. If you see this cute little area where you can have a smoothie or stop after you've been to the farmers market, a place to sit and chat with someone, it's going to catch your eye.”

Dinan Park's namesake John Dinan, Farmington City Manager from 1960 to 1971.

The Dinan Park Music Series is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. most Thursday nights this summer, and each event is free and open to the public. This year’s line-up includes Acoustic Ash, 6/5; Sheila Lands, 6/12; Ken Mobley, 6/19; Keith Maguire, 6/26; Billy and Elaine, 7/3; Jordan Duff, 7/10; Shawn Riley, 7/24; Lonnie Stump, 7/31; Audrey Ray, 8/7; Al Carmichael, 8/14; Darwin Mamassian, 8/21; and Steve Pichan, 8/28.

Wander back to Riley Park on Friday nights this summer and it’s the Rhythms in Riley Park concert series, a local favorite that reliably packs the lawn at Riley Park each summer weekend. It’s a full band experience each Friday, with bands booked that put more emphasis on lively renditions of familiar favorites rather than the original creations of local songwriters. Cover bands on the bill this year pay tribute to a number of legendary artists, ranging from the Beatles to Motown, and even a little traditional Irish music for good measure.

Sundquist Pavilion at Riley Park.

The Rhythms in Riley Park concert series is scheduled from 7 to 9 p.m. most Friday nights this summer and is free and open to the public. This year’s scheduled includes the party rock, pop, and country of Zang, 6/13; Neil Young tribute band PowderFinger, 6/20; Beatles tribute band Dig A Pony, 6/26; 1970s era rock from Joyriders, 7/4; funk, soul, and Motown from Soul Xpress, 7/11; funk, soul, and dance music from DTour, 7/25; vintage rock and roll and rockabilly from Billy Mack, 8/1; Steely Dan tribute Major Dudes, 8/8; 1960s era rock from The Paisley Fogg, 8/15; rock music from Vinyl Rocket on 8/22; and traditional Irish family band Finvarras Wren, 8/29.

Performers play at the Sundquist Pavilion when at Riley Park, which was built in 2005. And with Dinan Park opening in 2023 and now Masonic Plaza in 2025, it’s created a web of public spaces in downtown Farmington that can provide the space needed for such events, connecting different parts of downtown together – and connecting downtown visitors with each other.

“That keystone moment of creating Riley Park has led downtown Farmington down the direction of creating this network of other cool little public nodes, like Dinan Park and the Masonic park, and connecting them,” says John Bry, Program Coordinator at Main Street Oakland County.