Lincoln Amphitheatre prepares three-night Pioneer Song musical celebration

Lincoln Amphitheatre will bring back Pioneer Song for a second year Thursday through Saturday, June 25-27, with doors opening at 6 p.m. Central Time and performances beginning at 7 p.m. The three-night run is built around the music, history and storytelling of Young Abe Lincoln, A. Lincoln: A Pioneer Tale and Here I Grew Up, with support from the Lincoln Boyhood Drama Association.

Thursday and Friday nights will add a mezzanine pre-show by the Red Bank ReUnion Band, starting at 6:15 p.m. That early arrival gives the amphitheatre more than a standard curtain time: it turns the evening into a longer stay on the grounds, with local and regional audiences arriving early for live music before the main production begins.

Saturday’s finale folds Pioneer Song into the America250 calendar with a free prelude at 5:30 p.m. Central Time, presented by the Spier Spencer Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. The hourlong program will include a newly commissioned song by composer Pepper Choplin, a posting of the colors by Sons of the American Revolution members in period costume, the National Anthem, a recitation of Lincoln’s second inaugural address and a choral performance by the Celebration Singers with the Southwest Indiana Cantata Choir. The regular Pioneer Song performance that follows will also be free of charge. Children 12 and under are free throughout the run.

The programming reflects how Lincoln Amphitheatre is packaging its history offerings as a destination event, not just a stage production. Marc Steczyk, the amphitheatre’s director, said the goal is to invite both residents and visitors to experience live performance and the venue’s musical past in a new way.

That strategy lands in a place built for heritage tourism. Lincoln Amphitheatre sits in Lincoln City, Indiana, in the woods where Abraham Lincoln lived from age 7 to 21. The venue is described as one of the largest roofed amphitheaters in the nation and has 1,500 seats. A 2026 season announcement says it is in its 39th year of live entertainment, following a record-setting 2025 after a major infrastructure and seating expansion.

For Dubois County and the surrounding region, the weekend is a measure of whether history-based programming still sells seats, fills parking lots and keeps visitors spending time in southern Indiana. Pioneer Song leans on a familiar local story, but it also aims to keep that story moving through a larger summer audience tied to America250 and the Lincoln boyhood landscape.