APPLETON, Wis. (SPECTRUM NEWS) – The seventh annual Mile of Music festival returned to Appleton today, featuring original artists from around the country. Jones Park, the festival’s largest outdoor venue, has also returned.

“This is a banner day for Appleton, and this is just a fraction of the crowd that I know is going to be here on Friday and Saturday helping us celebrate the opening of this beautiful, beautiful facility,” said Appleton Mayor Tim Hanna.

For the past two years, the Fox Cities Exhibition Center and Jones Park have been under construction. Luckily, the park was revamped in time for this year’s Mile of Music festival.

“Our goal was to get this done and open so that Mile of Music could have a couple of their big concerts down here this year, so we pushed really hard,” said Hanna.

An estimated 90,000 to 100,000 music lovers will attend the free, four day festival. There will be 220 original artists at 60 music venues throughout the city. Jones Park will host shows on Friday and Saturday.

“That was kind of like my home base during the festival, was always to play Jones Park, and we’ve missed it the past few years, so to kick it back off this year will be huge,” said Grammy nominated musician Corey Chisel.

Local businesses covered expenses for some of the new amenities at the festival. Miron Construction donated money for the amphitheater, and Principal Financial paid for a new playground arena.

Mile of Music will be held Aug. 1 through Aug. 4. For more information on the event, click here.