Acts sought for Bethel Park Battle of the Bands

Musicians, get those demos ready.

As part of its Park and Play series, Bethel Park Recreation will host a Battle of the Bands on Sept. 2, with five acts to be selected for a set on the stage.

“We’re looking for bands that are going to be family-friendly and appeal to a large audience,” Lindsey Sibert, who is organizing the event, said. With that in mind, local musicians can email digital samples of their songs to her at lsibert@bethelpark.net by Aug. 1.

If you prefer putting the tunes on a thumb drive or compact disc — or recording them onto a cassette tape, like way back in the 20th century — the choice of media can be dropped off at the Bethel Park Community Center, 5151 Park Ave.

“Depending on how many submissions we get, we will make our final decisions the first week of August, so bands have time to prepare their sets,” Sibert said.

The length of sets is 20 minutes, with 10 to 15 minutes allotted between acts for equipment changes. Allegheny County’s portable outdoor stage, the Showmobile, will be set up for the occasion at Millennium Park.

Once selected, bands will be featured on Bethel Park social media, including links to their websites, and event publicity materials. The grand prize package is in the works.

The impetus for the “battle” came when Sibert was discussing potential Park and Park themes with her colleagues.

“I thought, wouldn’t it be nice to showcase some local bands and young talent?” she said. “I remember when I was in high school, that was always the big thing, to go see the bands play on a Friday night. We kind of just snowballed this idea, and we’re really excited to put this on.”

Park and Play, a series of community activities in its second year, continues with a family “End of Summer Bash” from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 12 at Simmons Park. The season wraps up Oct 28 with “Boos and Bites,” Bethel Park’s first wine, cider and spirits festival, for people 21 and older with valid proof of age.

“We hope to appeal to a huge audience this year with the events that we chose,” Sibert said.

In the meantime, the Bethel Park Farmers’ Market takes place from 3 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through the end of September near the South Park skating rink, off Corrigan Drive.

For more information, visit bethelpark.net/community/community-events/park-and-play and bethelparkfarmersmarket.com, or call 412-851-2910 and ask for Lindsey.