Five nights, 24 musical acts, 40,000 music fans and hours of entertainment. Cleanup is underway at Harris Park after the 21st annual Rock the Park concluded Saturday night. “It’s the first time we’ve gone to five nights and the only reason we added the Tuesday was because when you get a stadium-sized artist like Hozier, you take advantage of it,” said Brad Jones of Jones Entertainment Group (JEG), the festival’s founder and organizer. “What a magical week of music overall. We experimented in the EDM (Electronic Dance Music) space and it worked really well. We tried to carve a different genre of music each night and I think we absolutely accomplished that goal.” The cleanup is much easier this year than a year ago when they had their worst night in two decades with 100mm of rain in 24 hours. The weather only provided one hiccup the entire week, and that was a small evacuation Saturday due to lightning before the acts took the stage. As Brad Gibb, program director at Virgin Radio and Pure Country, pointed out during an interview on CTV News Thursday, there were many more young people at the event this year. “It was a strategic move this year to make sure Rock the Park is around for another 21 years,” said Jones. “We need to make sure those 16, 18, 21-year-olds, know about Rock the Park and know you don’t have to drive to Detroit and Toronto to have a great night of music.” Jones said while the festival initially started as a three-day classic rock event, they now have pivoted. “We had more 16 to 18 year olds than we’ve ever had and they felt safe. Their parents dropped them off at the front of the park and picked them up. That’s one thing I’m proud of. London police is there to make sure people are safe and we had 80-100 guards to make people safe, but what Rock the Park is, is a community, fun, safe place to be,” added Jones. Jones will now prepare for the Rock the Runway event from Sept. 12-13 at the London International Airport, featuring superstars Noah Kahan, Myles Smith, the Strumbellas, Marshmallow, and BBNO$. “The creation of Rock the runway is because you’ve got 40-50,000 students coming back to the city that are not here in the summer, so it’s geared towards the students,” said Jones. Jones said RTP was offered a major artist this year but turned it down because he felt people in the 50+ demographic were not going to stand in the park for six hours. RTP has two nights already confirmed for 2026 as JEG begins planning for the 22nd annual event. “For 2026, we will certainly be four nights again,” said Jones. “Five nights is a lot on our staff and volunteers. This year was a success on all fronts. Great way to end it with almost 8,000 country fans enjoying the night. Perfect weather, great artists and a ton of people just loving what London loves.”
