Free Music.
All Summer.
Right Here.

CAMDEN COUNTY — Some of the best entertainment in South Jersey this summer won't cost you a dime. Camden County's Summer Parks Concert Series is back and running through mid-September, turning a handful of local parks into open-air stages on weeknights all season long — and there's a lot of show left on the calendar.

The setup is simple and, for a lot of families, close to perfect: pack a blanket and a cooler, find a patch of grass as the sun goes down, and catch a free concert under the stars. The series spreads across several venues, so wherever you are in the county, there's likely a show within a short drive.

Mondays belong to the Sunset Jazz Series at Wiggins Park on the Camden City Waterfront, presented by Rutgers University–Camden, with music starting around 8 p.m. and the Philadelphia skyline glowing across the river. Wednesdays bring the Haddon Lake Park Sundown Music Series to the McLaughlin-Norcross Memorial Dell at 7:30 p.m. And Thursdays light up the Twilight Concert Series at Cooper River Park's Jack Curtis Stadium at 8 p.m., one of the marquee stops on the schedule. Additional shows run at Lindenwold Park and Winslow-New Brooklyn Park, spreading the music well beyond the county's center.

The headliner list this year reads like a summer cookout playlist come to life — Brian McKnight, Kid 'N Play, the Commodores and Max Weinberg are among the names the county lined up. At Cooper River's Jack Curtis Stadium, the weeks ahead include Color Me Badd on July 9 and Al Jardine & the Pet Sounds Band on July 16, with a Paradise Island Luau on August 13 and the South Jersey Pops Orchestra closing things out on August 27.

It's the kind of programming that does quiet work for a community. Free, family-friendly nights out matter a little more in a summer when grocery bills and gas prices have a lot of South Jersey households watching every dollar. A night of live music in the park costs nothing but the drive, and it gives neighbors a reason to be out together — exactly the sort of small, local good that doesn't always make headlines but adds up.

For the full lineup, exact dates and any weather updates, the county posts the schedule at camdencounty.com. The shows are free, the parking is easy, and the music plays right through Labor Day and beyond. Bring a chair.

Based on reporting from Camden County, NBC10 Philadelphia, 6abc Philadelphia and Patch. The Neighborhood Gazette covers South Jersey at neighborhoodgazette.town.