Family friendly activities and food vendors kicked off the Red, White and Blue Days in Morton Park on Wednesday amid the rainy weather.

Most huddled under pavilions and umbrellas as they signed up for raffles and snacked on kettle corn and snow.

The park smelled of rain and grass; from the pavilions wafted the unmistakable smell of sugary fruit syrups and smoking grills to feed hungry patrons.

Children and their parents took part in the Joyful Bubbles in the middle of Morton Park, creating hundreds of both small and large soapy orbs in the pouring rain.

Despite the weather, some attendees lined up on the baseball field an hour or more before the first show was scheduled to start, awaiting the concert in chairs under umbrellas or tents they brought from home.

Every year, the Morton Park baseball field hosts the concerts for Red, White and Blue Days in Charleston.

This year, The Hussey Brothers and John Michael Montgomery headlined for the Wednesday concert.

The Hussey Brothers are a family band made up of Quinn and Sean Hussey.

While the band is based out of Indianapolis, the brothers are originally from Charleston.

“We became the Hussey Brothers about a year ago, but kind of just for fun. We’ve been performing for a long time,” Quinn Hussey said.

During their performance, they played a song Sean Hussey wrote in fifth grade called “Sideways.”

The Hussey Brothers mostly played original music but opened with a cover of “Country Roads” by John Denver.

“We have an album coming out at the end of summer, so we’re playing most of the songs that are going to be on that album,” Sean Hussey said.

The Hussey Brothers closed their set with “Live for Home,” the song that also titles the name of their tour.

They said they drew inspiration for the song from their hometown of Charleston, which opens with a nod to Eastern: “And the lights illuminate, the memories that were made, in that Eastern Illinois town where I was raised.”

The Hussey Brothers will also be playing at the Brickhouse on Friday at 6:30 p.m. for a two-hour show.

The second act of the night was John Michael Montgomery, a country artist who has been active since 1991 and has had more than 30 of his singles on the Billboard Country Charts.

The crowds swelled during Montgomery’s performance, and the pit below the stage filled.

As the sun fell, the rain ceased and attendees could enjoy the concert without umbrellas or tents.

Between the performances, Monte and Myles Overton were announced the 2019 Farmers of the Year, as selected by the Coles County Farm Bureau’s Board of Directors.

Zoë Donovan can be reached at 581–2812 or at zedonovan@eiu.edu.