The band’s name is Any Day Parade, but a more fitting name last Wednesday would have been Rainy Day Parade. The band performed outdoors, even as the rain came down, at the Grove Street PATH Plaza as part of the Groove on Grove Series. The series, which runs through June, highlights Jersey City bands on Wednesday evenings from 6 p.m.- 8 p.m. Any Day Parade’s performance on June 18, was the second of three groups’. The Bryan Beninghove Trio was on June 11, and the final performance, by WJ and The Sweet Sacrifice, will be on June 25.

Before the umbrellas started popping up, a crowd had gathered at the Grove Street PATH Plaza to enjoy the toe tapping music. A few babies bopped in their moms’ arms as they danced along to Any Day Parade’s Indie/ Country sound. Commuters emerging from the PATH’s escalators slowed their harried pace or stopped, suddenly transported away from the rush of the workday.

As the band came into their second hour of the performance, the sky darkened more and pinpricks of rain turned to bigger drops. But the band kept going, moving the speakers and then themselves under a green tent.  Though some folks headed home to get out of the rain, others remained huddled under their umbrellas to continue enjoying the music, including one aptly named song, “Water Bucket.”

The Groove on Grove Series is put on by the HDSID, which stands for Historic Downtown Special Improvement District. According to Elizabeth Young, director of the HDSID, the goal of the music program is to help create a buzz for the district. The HDSID hopes that people will stop on their way home, or come out especially for the event, and then see what the downtown district around Grove Street has to offer in terms of entertainment, food, and shopping. “We hope that people will see that our downtown has everything they need,” she said.

The new plaza outside of the Grove Street station makes for the perfect location for the music series. It’s a highly trafficked area with 12,900 people going through there daily. And it’s the only area in the district large enough to accommodate big groups of people.

The music series is funded by the HDSID, as well as by the New Jersey Urban Enterprise Zone and other local sponsors. They hope to continue the Groove on Grove series every June. Though the music will only be for one more week, residents will have the new Farmers Market at the same location to look forward to the rest of the summer. The Farmers Market, also put on by the HDSID, will be Monday evenings starting June 24 and will run through October.