Orchard Park Jazz Picnic

Join in for an afternoon of picnicking, dancing, and relaxing on the lawn at Durham's Orchard Park, with live music by your hosts, the Mint Julep Jazz Band. Inspired by the Jazz Age Lawn Party in New York and similar events in Boston and Richmond, this began as a socially distanced event in 2021 to great success following a long pandemic winter. Now an annual event, the Orchard Park Jazz Picnic draws jazz fans, vintage enthusiasts, regional swing dancers, and passersby who decide to derail that dog walk and join the fun. The band will feature music by Mary Lou Williams and Les Brown, who both have ties to Duke University, as well as the Swing Era greats who played at the Durham Armory in the 1930s and 1940s.