Summer Concerts Return To Parsippany Next Week

PARSIPPANY, NJ — After a year of canceled or postponed events, Parsippany's summer concerts are back at Veterans Park. There will only be two performances this year, but they'll give Parsippany a chance to enjoy free outdoor entertainment.

“This outdoor concert series brings us back to some normalcy,” said Joe Plescia, superintendent of Parsippany’s Recreation Department. “It gets people back to the park and gets folks together with one another who they maybe haven’t seen in over a year in some cases. It’s just so important that people be reminded that they’re a part of this wonderful community.”

The concerts kick off at 7:30 p.m. Thursday with Street Hassle performing at Veterans Park. The Morris County favorite will play everything from classic rock to today's hits.

The second concert is to be determined. The shows are sponsored by Provident Bank.

Concert-goers are encouraged to continue wearing masks and to practice social distancing and frequent hand washing, even if they're vaccinated. Health officials across the country still recommend taking precautions because of highly transmissible variants, the township's press release says.

“I think our township continues to show through the data that we’re exceeding expectations on responding to this pandemic,” said Mayor Michael Soriano. “With vaccination rates hovering around 70% of eligible recipients, and with outbreaks of new cases continuing to remain low, Parsippany residents clearly take their health and safety seriously, and we all deserve to get back to enjoying life the way we’re accustomed.”

The highly contagious delta variant accounted for 26.8 percent of all coronavirus cases sequenced in New Jersey over a four-week period ending on June 19, according to a state report. The prior data set — a four-week period ending June 12 — marked 15.6 percent of cases as the delta variant.

The strain has shown increased transmissibility, but studies have shown two doses of the Pfizer vaccine are 79 to 88 percent effective against the variant.

Hospitalizations in New Jersey have increased from 267 on July 2 to 316 on Friday. But the figures represent a sharp decrease from the 2,294 active hospitalizations April 1.

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