Free summer concerts at Long Island parks by Darlene Graham

Darlene Graham & The Shades of Green Band will tour Long Island this summer, performing 16 free children's concerts at parks and other venues. 

The concerts, for kids up to age 9, will feature original family music produced by Graham and her band. Graham, 51, from West Babylon, is a certified music teacher who runs Rockin Tots, an early childhood music program in Plainview.

What started out as attending music programs with her own children, she said, turned into producing music and landing her first concert gig at the now-closed Orly’s Tree House in Westbury, in 2007. Graham opened Rockin Tots in 2008.

Graham and her four fellow band members, Michael O’Rourke, Ken Clayton, Keenan Boyle iand her husband, Chris Graham, who have been doing concerts since 2007, are scheduled to perform four full-band concerts in the summer series in Sayville, Moriches, Mount Sinai and Huntington. The other 12 shows will be performed by Graham and her husband.

"It’s a full family experience, where you’re getting up and dancing, and we’re throwing beach balls in the audience, and we bring out four king-sized bubble machines," Graham said.

With the summer park series concert starting July 10 at 6:30 p.m. during Family Fridays in Sayville, Graham said she hopes "to inspire a kid to play or look at music and know that’s an outlet for them to express themselves."

Graham, who said children don’t usually get to see live performances, hopes to bring that experience to them.

"My goal is to make every single kid engaged," she said. "But obviously, little ears might be much more sensitive and want to stay in the back, and the 6-year-olds are up front dancing."

Although Graham's free stage performance will be different from her Rockin Tots educational programming, her goal remains same. 

"The biggest thing is having a connection and watching families interact with each other," she said. "Having something just really pure, family time, no screens, being outside and seeing multigenerations come back."

Free summer concert dates:

• July 10, 6:30 p.m.: Family Fridays, Sayville (Sayville Common Ground) — Full band
• July 20, 6 p.m.: Moriches Branch Library, 201 Montauk Hwy., Moriches — Full band
• July 24, 10:30 a.m.: Averill Blvd Park, Elmont
• July 24, 1:30 p.m.: Hewlett Point Park, East Rockaway
• July 27, 10:30 a.m.: Rock Hall Museum, Lawrence
• July 27, 1:30 p.m.: Terrace Garden Park, Inwood
• July 28, 10:30 a.m.: Cedar Street Park, Uniondale
• July 28, 1:30 p.m.: Veterans Memorial Park, East Meadow
• July 28, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.: Tiki Joe's Cedar Beach, Mount Sinai — Full band
• July 29, 10:30 a.m.: Levittown Hall, Hicksville 
• July 29, 1:30 p.m.: Coes Neck Park, Baldwin
• July 30, 10:30 a.m.: Hendrickson Avenue Park, Elmont
• July 30, 1:30 p.m.: Harold Walker Park, Lakeview
• July 31, 10:30 a.m.: Roosevelt Pool, Roosevelt
• July 31, 1:30 p.m.: Elmont Road Park, Elmont
• Aug. 2, 4 p.m.: Huntington Arts Council, Chapin Rainbow Stage Heckscher Park, 2 Prime Ave., Huntington — Full band