AKRON, Ohio — Rachel Roberts loves to sing in her hometown of Akron and describes her style as "folksy, jazzy and bluesy."
"It kind of has that fun Akron unique vibe. I've been playing here for 20 years," Roberts said.
Sitting under a tent on a Wednesday, Roberts performed her original music to people who passed by Lock 3 Park in Downtown Akron. She feels invigorated by the resurgence of the park.
"I gotta tell you, it feels so good just to see people come back down here, walk around. I see big smiles on people's faces," Roberts said.
Roberts has seen those smiles during multiple concerts she attended at Lock 3 as a music fan over the summer.
City of Akron drone video, provided to News 5, shows large crowds filling the park on Main Street for various acts.
The park underwent $17 million in improvements and received funding from three sources: Akron, the Knight Foundation and private donors.
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A walking path, infrastructure improvements, and a bunch a new greenery are part of the upgrades, but the crown jewel is the Maynard Performance Pavilion.
The resurgence of the park, considered the centerpiece of Downtown Akron, attracted several national acts that were booked with the help of the Akron Civic Theater.
"We had a couple of country acts out there. Priscilla Block and Chris Janson both did performances out there. We had Jeffrey Osborne and Will Downing, some great R & B gospel singers out there. We had the great KRS-One, iconic old-school sort of hip-hop artists out there. We had The Legendary Wailers, Bob Marley's Band," said Howard Parr, the executive director of the Akron Civic Theater.
Kyle Kutuchief, program director of the Knight Foundation, said the foundation provided a $228,000 grant to help book higher-profile musical acts.
"We're finding that it was worth every penny because that higher level of artist— in addition to local acts, regional acts and cover bands— we have a wide variety of stuff, but that higher level of musical performance is drawing a different crowd from the region to come experience Downtown Akron," Kutuchief said.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the re-imagined park took place last November.
RELATED: Akron celebrates re-opening of Lock 3
Fast forward to 2025, and expectations have been exceeded. Kutuchief said it has been the most successful year in Lock 3's 22-year history.
An estimated 85,000 people have visited the park for concerts and festivals, including the Akron Pride Festival, which brought in about 40,000 people.
Parr said the concerts generated about $250,000 in ticket sales.
Both the revenue and the crowd size are about double what Lock 3 has seen in several recent years, and it's only September.
"LeBron James brought the NBA championship here in 2016 for a reason. It is the center of gravity for the City of Akron, and now it's a living room, a hangout space, an event venue," Kutuchief said.
Making the park a destination place beyond special events is also important to those who funded the transformation.
It's also aimed at drawing in people who live or work in Akron— an everyday place to walk dogs, enjoy an outdoor lunch or hang out after going to a show or an Akron RubberDucks game.
"How is all of that impacting their perception of who we are in Downtown Akron?" Parr said. "I think that's really maybe the most important impact."
Big crowds are also expected this weekend for the Rubber City Jazz and Blues Festival, which takes place at various venues around town.
Grammy-winning saxophonist Kirk Whalum will headline the festival on Sept. 6 at Lock 3 Park.
Kutuchief feels that with all of the success the park has seen in 2025, momentum is growing for the future.
"We've proved the range of audiences that will come out in Akron. We've set a high standard for the years to come."
