July in the United States is National Park and Recreation Month. Initially established by the National Recreation and Park Association in 1985 and gaining official recognition from the U.S. government by way of congressional resolution in 2009, National Park and Recreation Month raises public awareness of the power of parks and recreation to foster strong, vibrant, and resilient communities across America.

This mission aligns with the work of Levitt programs, which are all about bringing people together to nurture social connections and amplify community pride in activated green spaces through the power of free concerts—a living reflection of this year’s National Park and Recreation Month theme, “Where You Belong.”

Throughout the country, Levitt communities harness the power of outdoor public space—including city parks and green spaces—to create community destinations that nurture a sense of belonging for people of all ages, cultures, and backgrounds. Many of the public spaces home to Levitt concerts were once-underused or dilapidated areas (a few were even brownfields) since transformed into vibrant, joyous, and inclusive community destinations that connect people to each other and the place they call home.

Transforming public spaces has been our M.O. for over four decades: the very first Levitt venue, Levitt Pavilion for the Performing Arts in Westport, Connecticut, was the town dump before community members transformed the site into an outdoor performing arts venue in 1974 with support from the Levitt family. Skip ahead to 2024: Dozens of Levitt concert locations have breathed new life into outdoor public spaces—one free, live music experience at a time.

What are some of the other outdoor places that have flourished by way of Levitt communities transforming underused areas into thriving, ongoing community destinations? Keep reading to find out!

Dave Hall Plaza in Dayton, Ohio

A joyous, free concert unfolds at Levitt Pavilion Dayton, located at Downtown Dayton’s Dave Hall Plaza.

The home of Levitt Pavilion Dayton, Dave Hall Plaza (named after the former mayor of Dayton from 1966 to 1970) has been the place to be for Daytonians looking to relish the joy of free, high-caliber concerts since 2018. Located in the heart of downtown Dayton, the city block comprising Dave Hall Plaza has seen various incarnations: after housing a historical church in the 18th century until the early 1900s, the city embarked on an urban renewal project for the land in hopes of positioning downtown Dayton as a cultural destination. The result was the construction of the verdant Dave Hall Plaza and the Dayton Convention and Exhibition Center. Jointly, the new facilities, opening in the early 1970s, laid the foundation for a new era in Dayton’s history.

Despite the development, the new park was never used to its full potential. Free arts programming offered at the park was inconsistent, and events hosted at the Dayton Convention Center were ticketed, rendering them inaccessible to many community members. Additionally, the park’s design, characterized by a slope-like topography, made it difficult to see the park—and its goings-on—from the street (and vice versa), ultimately creating public safety concerns.

Dave Hall Plaza prior to becoming home to Levitt Pavilion Dayton.

Local changemakers dreamed up a new approach—a permanent entertainment venue that would host dozens of free, high-caliber concerts for community members of all ages, backgrounds, and socioeconomic statuses. Independent of the venue proposal, this new plan also included a redesign of Dave Hall Plaza that would increase public safety by leveling out the terrain of the park, making it easier for visitors to be aware of their surroundings.

In 2016, the Dayton community formed a partnership with the Levitt Foundation to create Levitt Pavilion Dayton, a new, state-of-the-art outdoor performance venue at the plaza. Just two years later, Levitt Dayton launched and began embarking on its mission to build community through music.

Today, Levitt Dayton at Dave Hall Plaza is regarded as one of the downtown area’s most inclusive, welcoming gathering places—allowing residents to meet their neighbors, unwind with loved ones, and experience a sense of belonging. In 2023 alone, over 95,000 people came together to relish the power of free live music and cultural events at the urban green space. The pavilion and park are also used for numerous other events, such as citywide festivities, school programs, and community activities.

Where human connection abounds, economic prosperity follows. Since its opening just six years ago, the vitality Levitt Dayton infused into Dave Hall Plaza has catalyzed a new era of investment and redevelopment across much of the historic “Nine” area (a nickname created by locals in reference to the nine-block area of downtown Dayton), including new work, living, and entertainment spaces in the pavilion-adjacent Fire Blocks District and other rejuvenated establishments right by the plaza. In 2023 alone, the free concerts at Dave Hall Plaza have boosted downtown Dayton’s economy by $1.8 million, thanks to community members patronizing surrounding businesses.

Kopernik Park in Utica, New York

Since 2016, Kopernik Park—an urban green space in downtown Utica, New York—has been a happening destination for the proudly multicultural Upstate New York community, thanks to the long-running Levitt AMP Utica Music Series.

Kopernik Park prior to the Levitt AMP Utica Music Series.

However, prior to becoming home to the Levitt AMP Music Series, this grassy, triangular throughway in the Oneida Square neighborhood was something to drive past rather than gather at. Trash littered the area, and its infrastructure, sidewalks, and curbs were all crumbling. The park that was meant to be a hospitable outdoor public space for the surrounding community—a census tract with low household incomes and high school graduation rates—had instead, due to years of disinvestment, become inaccessible to the neighborhood.

In bringing the Levitt AMP Utica Music Series (presented by Levitt nonprofit partner Utica Monday Nite) to life at Kopernik Park, community changemakers were determined to turn the page and start a fresh chapter for the space, one in which all residents of Utica—with its sizeable first-generation-American community largely constituting refugees from Bosnia, Myanmar, Vietnam, and the former Soviet Union—could experience the joy of arts programming as diverse as Uticans themselves.

The result: Kopernik Park’s full potential, realized. Since the start eight years ago of the Levitt AMP Utica Music Series the Oneida Square neighborhood has been infused with a new energy.

The Levitt AMP Utica Music Series has injected lively energy into Kopernik Park since 2016.

Overwhelming community support of the annual music series led to heightened park visitation, which triggered the city to reinvest in numerous beautification projects: new sidewalks, curbs, and crosswalks; pruned trees; new grass; weekly maintenance; and colorful floral landscaping donated by community members themselves. The park also contained a variety of public art as well, including murals, sculptures, and mosaics created by local artists. Utica community leaders describe the difference in Kopernik today and 10 years ago to be “like night and day.”

And as happens in many Levitt communities, the increased use of the park has boosted the economy as well: Park visitation has increased foot traffic and sales at nearby businesses. Utica was also awarded a $10 million downtown revitalization grant from New York State in 2019 in recognition of the city’s ongoing efforts to revamp the heart of their town.

Today, Kopernik Park’s most energized moments unfold on Monday nights, when the Levitt AMP Music Series turns the lawn into a bustling gathering space where points of cross-cultural connection abound amongst the sights and sounds of free, live music.

McLain Rogers Park in Clinton, Oklahoma

The crown of the Route 66 town of Clinton, Oklahoma, McLain Rogers Park has been the site of the Levitt AMP Clinton Music Series since 2023. Long regarded as a central park by Clinton residents—and named after the stalwart Depression-era Clinton mayor who, despite pushback from other city politicians, advocated for the construction of the public space beginning in 1934—McLain Rogers Park is something of an underrated national treasure. The federal government agrees: the shell is part of the National Register of Historic Places, while its 12-acre area features one of just two amphitheaters in all of Oklahoma. McLain Rogers Park is the product of a pivotal era in American history, spurred by the economic and social reforms of the New Deal: the Art Deco architectural charm of the park, from its picturesque, neon-lit entranceway to the iconic bandshell located at the south end of the expansive green space, were the fruits of various WPA (Works Progress Administration) public works programs.

The bandshell in McLain Rogers Park, prior to becoming home to the Levitt AMP Clinton Music Series.

For the most part, the park, which also includes a public pool, playground, and picnic areas, was regularly put to use. Yet, its historic bandshell, with seating for 3,000 (nearly a third of the town’s population!), was rarely activated toward the latter half of the 20th century. Between a one-off production of Oklahoma! in 1988 and high school graduation ceremonies annually held at the amphitheater, the stage rarely saw much action. So, with initiative as robust as that which drove the bandshell to be constructed in the first place, a few years ago Clinton civic leaders set out to change the fate of their town’s beloved green space when they applied for a Levitt AMP Music Series grant.

Coming to life at the McLain Rogers Park bandshell, the Levitt AMP Clinton Music Series builds community through free, live music.

The fruit of such efforts is the Levitt AMP Clinton Music Series (presented by the nonprofit Scissortail Productions), which has nurtured the once-underused public space into a blossoming gathering space now regarded as a cultural hub for residents of Clinton and neighboring towns to relax with family, dance with friends, and get to know their neighbors—all while being introduced to styles of music they may not have otherwise had a chance to engage in. Additionally, today’s holistic use of the park has kindled cultural tourism and economic revitalization: trends that not only contribute to the strengthening of Clinton’s intimate social fabric but also demonstrate the collective impact that an outdoor public space can have when each of its facilities are activated to its full potential, no-holds-barred.

Ruby Hill Park in Denver, Colorado

Since 2017, Ruby Hill Park has been the Denver community’s favorite place to congregate for free concerts. Levitt Pavilion Denver, located in the park, annually presents over 45 free, high-caliber performances and community events, transforming Ruby Hill’s verdant landscape into a vibrant mosaic of audiences of all ages, backgrounds, and cultures. In 2023 alone, that “mosaic” comprised an average of 2,365 attendees each concert—totaling over 136,000+ community members gathering to experience connection and joy through the power of live music. So, with such a stellar track record as a reliable place for Denverites to come together in an inclusive outdoor environment, it may be hard to imagine that at one point in time, the 80 acres that now comprise Ruby Hill Park were once territory foreign to most of the community—unless you were a tradesperson in the business of waste, that is.

Ruby Hill Park prior to becoming home to Levitt Pavilion Denver.

Indeed, before Ruby Hill was fashioned into a park sometime in the 1950s, it was the site of hazardous waste processing in the early 1900s; after that, it was turned into a landfill for decades. This history is not anomalous to Ruby Hill, either. The Denverite reports that nearly 30 percent of Denver’s parks are built on what are called degraded lands—which, in this context, describes lands that have undergone ecological loss caused by human-induced processes. Although degraded lands sound irredeemable, they’re quite the opposite: the NRPA (founding organization of National Park and Recreation Month) notes that through thoughtful planning and restoration efforts, degraded lands—from former industrial sites and landfills to other damaged areas—can be transformed into safe, vibrant green spaces that can biologically heal the ecosystem and socially heal the communities nearby. Talk about music to one’s ears.

In the case of Ruby Hill, such efforts were cross-collaborative; the Environmental Protection Agency guided federal, state, and private entities to restore the land over a handful of decades, and by the early 2000s lemons had been turned into lemonade: the park was reborn, entirely safe for use. However, despite earning an official seal of safety from the government, the park had yet to gain sustained enthusiasm from community members themselves. While many residents loved the green space for its terrain park, which opened for free winter sports recreation during snow season, other locals who weren’t fans of the park’s constant traffic congestion, lack of pedestrian infrastructure, and rap as a crime draw. With counsel from the Ruby Hill Neighborhood Association, Denver civic leaders created a revitalization plan that promised better intersections, sidewalks, parking, and signage. The plan also revisited an idea that the city had pondered since the ‘50s: the construction of an amphitheater.

Since 2017, Ruby Hill Park has become a community destination for enjoying free musical performances in a variety of genres at Levitt Pavilion Denver.

Good things take time, and in 2017, at last, Levitt Pavilion Denver opened to the public. Unlike other major outdoor entertainment venues in the Denver metro area (like Red Rocks and Fiddler’s Green), Ruby Hill’s Levitt would lie within city limits and host a chockful season of free concerts. This geographical and financial accessibility would allow Denver community members of all walks of life to relish the joy of live music, including those who called Ruby Hill, a historically underserved community with a majority Latinx population, home. Today, Levitt Pavilion Denver is both a centerpiece of Ruby Hill Park’s revitalization and evidence of the power of cross-sector collaboration to transform once harmful, privately owned lands into inclusive public green spaces where everyone can experience a sense of belonging.

SteelStacks, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Every Levitt concert site has its lore, and perhaps one of the most fascinating mythologies is that of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania’s SteelStacks—yet another example of environmental restoration as a vehicle of creative placemaking. Since its inaugural season in 2011, Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks has built community through free, live music as part of the greater SteelStacks campus (also having opened in 2011), which features copious arts and cultural facilities, including a movie theater, creative commons, community stage, an outdoor museum, and eateries.

Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks, located on the SteelStacks Arts & Cultural Campus, is emblematic of the Bethlehem community’s past, present, and future.

With so much to offer, the sights and sounds of the arts can be enjoyed by Leigh Valley residents year-round. However, from the early 20th century to 1995, visitors would have been far more likely to hear the “melodies” of machinery rather than music. As its name (and the spectacular, 230-feet-tall blast furnaces that act as a backdrop to the Levitt stage) suggests, the SteelStacks arts and entertainment district rests on what was once the country’s second-largest steel manufacturer, Bethlehem Steel: the industrial behemoth whose steel was used to construct some of our country’s most iconic landmarks, including the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, the Golden Gate Bridge and beyond. The lifeblood of the Bethlehem community, the plant employed over 31,000 people at its peak, fueling both local and national economic prosperity. When the company ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy in the early 2000s, the result did more than decimate the region’s economy. The vast acreage became a notorious “brownfield”—an unused, toxic site of a former industrial or commercial facility.

In the early 2000s, local changemakers were determined to bring new life to the shuttered site. Levitt nonprofit partner ArtsQuest, the city, and other local groups established a revitalization plan that would transform the industrial brownfield into a public space that would strengthen the social fabric of the town, much like Bethlehem Steel did for over a century.

The site of Bethlehem Steel prior to its transformation into the SteelStacks Arts & Cultural Campus.

Since its opening in 2011, SteelStacks has done exactly that. A focal point of the SteelStacks Arts & Cultural Campus, the Levitt pavilion has presented nearly 600 free concerts (along with dozens of free movies and other arts programming on the lawn) since its inaugural season, helping to spark Bethlehem’s economic and cultural renaissance. Most summer evenings, Bethlehem community members can be found congregated on the green space in front of the blast furnaces (aka the Levitt SteelStacks lawn), where everyone is welcome to dance, unwind, and sing along to free, live music under not just the stars—but also the towering blast furnaces that symbolize both the city’s past and its climb to new, future heights.

Wiley Park in Galva, Illinois

Wiley Park prior to becoming the site of the Levitt AMP Galva Music Series.

Wiley Park, a lush central green space in the small railroad town of Galva, Illinois, was once an underused community asset. Since presenting the Levitt AMP Music Series each summer starting in 2018, Wiley Park has become a dynamic hub bringing Galva and neighboring town residents together as it nurtures belonging, creativity, and community pride. Each summer the park has come to life for the free concert series—presented by Levitt nonprofit partner Galva Arts Council—that brings award-winning talent to its charming Doss Memorial Stage.

Before becoming the community’s exclusive spot for jamming out to nationally and internationally acclaimed musical talent, Wiley Park was rather sleepy. Despite its central location and wide offering of amenities, including a disk golf course, two playgrounds, basketball hoops, and an ice-skating rink, the 2.5-acre public space had declining usage—reflective of the town’s population decrease, spurred by a lack of jobs and closing businesses. Back then, the Doss Memorial Stage didn’t even exist. But community changemakers never underestimated the green space’s potential, particularly as a handful of nearby businesses had enjoyed increased foot traffic thanks to other community arts efforts spearheaded by Galva Arts Council, such as a coffee house music series, art classes, and yoga lessons.

During the first season of the Levitt AMP Galva Music Series, the rural Illinois community fashioned a temporary stage.

Witnessing in real time the chain of change that can come from fostering connection through the arts, Galva community leaders realized they could rejuvenate Wiley Park into becoming a flourishing community destination—the kind elder residents experienced decades ago and younger generations had yet to enjoy. The plan? To activate the park as the concert site of the Levitt AMP Galva Music Series. From the start, the free music series was a smash—so much so that community members immediately realized the impact that a proper stage would make on the park, surrounding businesses, and the town’s small but dynamic creative economy. One of those residents was local business owner Jane Doss, who was so inspired by the vitality she saw unfold on the Levitt AMP Galva Music Series lawn that she donated $100,000 to the construction of what was honorably named Doss and her parents.

By the second season of the already impactful Levitt AMP Galva Music Series, audiences and performers alike enjoyed Wiley Park’s newly constructed Doss Memorial Stage.

With the support of the city and other local donors, the beautiful brick-and-pine stage was ready for action. This year, Wiley Park continues to thrive as the stomping grounds of the Levitt AMP Galva Music Series, stirring increased local engagement, the opening of new businesses, and overall increased investment in the community’s arts ecosystem—with Doss Memorial Stage acting as a centerpiece symbolizing the change that can unfold when the power of public space is realized.

Learn more about how the Levitt Foundation activates dozens of underused public spaces throughout the country to create equitable, healthy, and thriving communities.