Last Friday kicked off the 2026 “Jammin’ On The Lawn” summer concert series, so of course I was there, along with a lot of other people!

Ever since Sean Kenny took over operations at The Friendly Valley, the summer shows there on the outside stage have become a wildly fun Peoria tradition. Let’s go and kick off this year’s series at The Friendly Valley with the band, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades!

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Bar Number 109: The Friendly Valley Tavern, Friday, May 1, 2026

Here we are at The Friendly Valley Tavern! The parking lot fills up for these weekend summer shows, but you can park at the U-Haul and the shuttle bus will take you back and forth.

Let’s go inside and see what’s happening in there on this rare Friday night on the town!

I love the quonset hut bar in here! There’s bartender Josh serving me up an ice-cold can of Pabst with the infamous Aiken Alley sign hanging next to him! Cheers to Chad Wallace!

Bartender Brian was also hanging out at the bar and it’s always a pleasure to see his smiling face!

There’s the four beers on tap, the Nut Hut behind the bar and gaming machines line the back wall. Normally I’d just hang out in here at the bar, but tonight…

All the action is outside in the spacious back lawn of The Friendly Valley Tavern. Let’s follow this guy out the back door.

There’s the nice beer porch out here in the back.

There’s the man himself, Sean Kenny, the owner and operator of The Friendly Valley Tavern! Always great to see Sean and he’s the first bar owner to appear on this series twice, we last featured Sean on our St. Patrick’s Day post when we visited his other fine establishment, Kenny’s Westside Pub!

There’s Hayley, Sean’s pretty wife and she and Sean are with their furry son, Ray! Nice to see this happy family at The Friendly Valley!

Jade and Colin were seated nearby and it was nice to meet them! There’s Brian who was running around and fixing shit. Hey, it’s what he does!

Sean upgraded the outside island with some nice new and comfortable couches! Very fancy!

The stage is all set and a crowd is starting to gather. And check out the grass here, very green and nice! Grass is an important item in these summer shows!

The Grill ‘Em All food truck was on site and I got a delicious Bratwurst for my Friday night dinner!

After dinner I ran into Kirk and Roxy and it was great to chat and catch up with both of them!

And now, ladies and gentlemen…it’s showtime at The Friendly Valley Tavern!

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Horsehoes & Hand Grenades

Horseshoes & Hand Grenades took the stage and they put on a fabulous show.

The lighting at these shows are fantastic and as you can see, there’s a big crowd for the opening night of the summer music series at The Friendly Valley Tavern!

I’ve never seen this band live before and they put on a fabulous show! Check out their website here.

I ran into Cathy and Brenda in the crowd and they were loving the show!

This was such a wonderful night of music and fun at The Friendly Valley Tavern!

If you missed the opening show, no worries, there’s 19 more to go all the way through September 30th, mark your calendars and go and join the fun and live music at The Friendly Valley Tavern!

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