April 25, 2024
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McHenry concerts raise more than $200,000 toward new splash pad

Shows featuring Smash Mouth, Sugar Ray were put on by a foundation led by Mayor Wayne Jett and his wife, Amber

By Sam Lounsberry

Jon Langston and band play on stage during the RISE Up music festival on Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021 at Petersen Park in McHenry. Funds raised from the Friday and Saturday music festival, which included artists such as Sugar Ray, Smash Mouth, Brantley Gilbert, and more, are going toward a new splashpad at Fort McHenry, according to the RISE Up foundation's website. (Lucy Dolan for Shaw Local/Matthew Apgar)

A two-night music festival Friday and Saturday in McHenry’s Petersen Park raised just more than $200,000, enough to completely fund the addition of a splash pad at a city park, Mayor Wayne Jett said.

A nonprofit led by Jett and his wife, Amber Jett, called RISE Up Foundation put on the shows, which included performances by Smash Mouth, Sugar Ray and others performing for outdoor crowds of thousands, according to the mayor.

Jett said the splash pad project for the Fort McHenry playground will cost an estimated $185,000, with installation of the water feature costing about $100,000, equipment about $60,000 and boring for a water line and the line’s installation costing about $25,000.

A rendering shows a design of a splash pad that could be built in Petersen Park in McHenry in part with funding raised through concerts put on Sept. 24 and Sept. 25, 2021, by the nonprofit RISE Up led by McHenry Mayor Wayne Jett and his wife Amber.

A rendering shows a design of a splash pad that could be built in Petersen Park in McHenry in part with funding raised through concerts put on Sept. 24 and Sept. 25, 2021, by the nonprofit RISE Up led by McHenry Mayor Wayne Jett and his wife Amber. (Provided by RISE Up Foundation)

McHenry Excavating has agreed to donate resources to complete the excavation work for building a new parking lot at the park, Jett said, and he is in talks with a paving company in hopes of having the paving work for the lot donated, too.

“I look forward to enjoying this new amenity with my family and hope to see all of you there when it is constructed,” Jett said in a statement, adding that he plans on the splash pad work happening in 2022.

His nonprofit is planning another event for next year, he said, and is preparing to identify the next project to support with fundraising. The past weekend’s concert series originally was planned for 2020 but the mayor decided to postpone it to this year because of COVID-19, he said.