After $24 million renovation, Aurora’s RiverEdge Park is ready for concert season
The wait is over. Saturday's Blues on the Fox mini-fest marks the reopening of Aurora's RiverEdge Park after a yearlong multimillion-dollar renovation that expanded capacity and improved amenities.
“If you loved it before, wait until you walk through those gates now,” said general manager Jim Jarvis, marketing manager and programming officer for the Aurora Civic Center Authority, which oversees operations at the 30-acre concert venue.
In addition to expanding capacity to 7,500 people, renovations added a new southern entrance, an improved sound system, LED screens, a beverage pavilion, and additional restrooms.
Established in 2013 and renamed three years later in honor of the late mayor Thomas J. Weisner, who served from 2005 to 2016 and was a tireless advocate for the park and for the arts, RiverEdge initially hosted local bands and a farmers market, said Jarvis.
At the time, no one considered the venue would one day host the likes of KISS, Willie Nelson and One Republic, said Jarvis. But by 2018, city officials, together with ACCA representatives and RiverEdge Park committee members — looking to compete in the lucrative summer concert market — began planning upgrades that would allow the venue to book bigger-name acts.
That necessitated changes onstage, backstage and throughout the park.
The bands required dressing rooms and showers, an office for the tour manager, and a dining space for performers and crew members, who, until the renovation, were fed in shifts from an old construction trailer, according to Jarvis.
The 10,000-square-foot backstage expansion and improvements “will open up new opportunities for us,” he said.
“You feel like you're in an actual concert venue now,” Jarvis said.
Meanwhile, concertgoers will enjoy front-of-house amenities such as the aforementioned new entrance, a VIP section, a sponsor skydeck, 24 new women’s restrooms, 18 new men’s restrooms, four family/all-gender restrooms, and a beverage pavilion with 16 service windows.
The biggest challenge involved scheduling the work to ensure the park would be ready for Aurora's 2025 Christkindlmarket and the 2026 summer concert season, said city engineer and director of public works Jason Bauer.
He said the project, which required water, power and sanitation upgrades, cost about $24 million.
RiverEdge patrons will now enjoy the concert from any vantage point, thanks to the addition of two giant, LED screens, courtesy of Nighthawk Video in Sycamore.
The state-of-the-art screens are the same as those used at the Sphere in Las Vegas and on some of the biggest tours, said Phil Wooding, Nighthawk floor manager.
“Basically, you'll be able to see and hear what's happening on stage everywhere in the park,” he said.
<strong id="strong-d64bb3a71a92c179c0214256cf5f5bca">Blues on the Fox 2026</strong>
Showtime: 3 p.m. Saturday, June 20
Where: RiverEdge Park, 360 N. Broadway, Aurora
Tickets: $50.24; $44 when purchased in-person