HYDE PARK — Hip-hop artist Common will kick off a celebration of the National Park Service’s 100th anniversary in Washington Park on Saturday.
Common will serve as grand marshal for the celebration, which will bring a host of New Orleans jazz bands to the park for the day, starting at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at 57th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
The celebration is partially an exchange of cultures from the park services many parks and Saturday’s event will bring the Treme Brass Band and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble representing the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park in Louisiana to Washington Park.
“Chicago and New Orleans are two culturally diverse cities with rich histories in music and I’m honored that the National Park Service and National Park Foundation invited me to be a part of this experience,” Common said in an announcement of the event. “I grew up on the South Side of Chicago and think the second line will be an especially meaningful and wonderful tradition for our community.”
Common will not be performing.
National officials from the park service and park rangers from the Pullman National Monument are expected to be in attendance for the second of four stops at parks across the country.
“Most people know that the National Park Service preserves amazing landscapes, but the Park Exchange event series demonstrates that we care for America’s cultural and historic treasures, too,” said National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis in an announcement of the event.
The event is free and open to the public.
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