The two-day event, headlined and hosted by the Arkells (pictured), takes place this Friday and Saturday, June 24 and 25, 2022. Photo credit: Arkells Music
Well-known Hamilton band the Arkells will be holding a special two-day event complete with a basketball game, bike ride, flea market, and huge outdoor concert this upcoming weekend.
“The Rally” events start on Friday, June 24 at 1pm at Woodlands Park in Hamilton (Barton St E and Wentworth St N) for the official opening of a brand new professional basketball court that will be open to the public. The outdoor court will have professional lighting, glass backboards with professional netting, bleachers, and an acrylic court surface. After a ribbon-cutting ceremony, which will include special guest appearances, a basketball game will take place.
The ribbon-cutting and basketball game are both free to attend and open to the public.
The court cost $80,000 and its construction was made possible by the Arkells with contributions from the Nick Nurse Foundation, Hamilton’s Foxcroft Family, Raptors Superfan Nav Bhatia’s foundation, and Canada Basketball.
The Arkells also recognize that Ward 3 Councillor Nrinder Nann was instrumental in the basketball court’s construction, taking care of the municipal hurdles needed to get the project up and running. The new court will be dubbed “The Rally Court”, named after the Arkells concert event in recognition of their initiative to start the process.
Councillor Nann said that the Arkells lead singer Max Kerman called her about the idea in January 2022. In a statement, the singer said that he likes to play basketball at local parks whenever the band goes on tour and came to realize that Hamilton doesn’t have any state-of-the-art professional outdoor courts.
“If it’s good enough for LA, New York City, and Chicago, it’s good enough for Hamilton,” said Kerman.
But the opening of the new court isn’t even the main event happening next weekend.
The main event, a huge outdoor concert at Tim Horton’s Field, starts at 5:30pm on Saturday. Tickets for that can be found via Ticketmaster and $1 from every ticket sold will be donated to the Hamilton charitable organization Indwell which builds and maintains affordable and geared-to-income housing. Current tickets available for the concert are starting at approximately $40 plus taxes and fees.
As for the other major event happening Saturday, before the concert there will be a market curated by the Hamilton Flea Market featuring 20+ vendors, food options, a DJ, special guests, and free bike tune-ups. The market is free, runs from 11am-4pm, and will take place just outside Tim Horton’s Field’s Cannon Street entrance.
The Arkells have also invited members of the public to join them for a bike ride before the concert. The band will be riding City of Hamilton Bike Share bicycles at 12:45pm on Saturday from Gore Park to Tim Horton’s Field and are inviting the public to join them on their ride. That event is also free.
The Arkells concert, dubbed “The Rally”, was originally supposed to take place in June 2020 but was rescheduled several times due to COVID.
Based in Hamilton, Ontario, Kevin Geenen reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He is a regular contributor with The Hamilton Independent and has also been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, Niagara Independent, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. He is known for Hamilton crime updates and social media news graphics. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal from Governor General David Johnston. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
