The Marshall Tucker Band, The Band Perry, Mitchell Tenpenny, and Parmalee are all playing the same venue in Chittenango this season — and if your first reaction was “wait, where in Chittenango?”, you are asking exactly the right question. The Haven of the Wild is a wedding and event center at 1863 New Boston Road, about 20 minutes east of Syracuse, where the concert grounds share a property with lions, tigers, and giraffes. That is not a typo and it is not a gimmick. It is the newest outdoor concert venue in Central New York, it is booking national country acts in its first full season, and almost nobody outside Madison County seems to know it exists yet. Let’s fix that.
From Safari Park to Concert Stage
The Haven is the work of Jeff Taylor, who founded Chittenango’s Wild Animal Park in 2010. The Haven of the Wild opened in early 2025 as the park’s resort expansion — overnight bungalows overlooking the lion and tiger enclosures, luxury African-style tents, and a wedding and event center. The concert venue went up the same year, with roughly 148,000 square feet of the property graded and paved ahead of opening. The first show, headlined by country-pop singer Ashley Cooke, took place on July 26, 2025.
So this is not a room with decades of history to lean on. It is a venue with one summer under its belt and a booking sheet that reads like it has been at this much longer. That is the part that caught my attention. Plenty of event barns and wedding venues around upstate New York dabble in a cover band or two on the patio. Very few of them come out of the gate signing artists who headline amphitheaters and casino showrooms.
The 2026 Season: A Country Lineup That Demands a Second Look
Here is what is on the calendar this summer, all verified through the venue’s official ticket shop:
- Mitchell Tenpenny — Speed of Light Tour — Friday, July 31
- Lakeview — Thursday, August 6
- Montgomery Gentry — Friday, August 7
- The Marshall Tucker Band — Saturday, August 8
- The Band Perry — Sunday, August 16
- Parmalee — Friday, September 11
Read that middle stretch again: three shows in three nights, August 6 through 8, closing with The Marshall Tucker Band — a Southern rock institution that has been touring since before most Central New York venues were built. The Band Perry the following weekend and Parmalee carrying the season into September round out a lineup that leans hard country, which tells you exactly who The Haven thinks its audience is. Given how well country draws across Central New York — from the orchard shows at Beak & Skiff to the arena bookings at Turning Stone — that is a sensible bet.
For the Montgomery Gentry date, the shop lists doors at 6 PM, music at 7 PM, and tickets starting at $35. Times and pricing vary show to show, so check the individual listing before you plan your evening.
What the Setup Is Actually Like
These are outdoor shows, and the general admission model here is worth understanding before you buy. GA tickets are standing only. Chairs are available for purchase at the door, and you can bring your own chairs from home — but chair seating has to set up behind the reserved seating area. VIP tickets get you a designated standing area closest to the stage.
My practical read: if you want to be up front, go VIP or plan to stand all night in GA. If you are the lawn-chair-and-a-cold-drink type — and for a Marshall Tucker or Montgomery Gentry crowd, plenty of us are — toss your own chairs in the trunk rather than buying them at the gate, and accept that you will be a bit farther back. Either way, this is a bring-a-layer situation: you are in open Madison County farmland east of Syracuse, and even August evenings cool off fast once the sun drops.
One more logistics note that matters more here than at most venues: the Haven’s own website is built for its wedding business and does not list concerts at all. Tickets are sold exclusively through the venue’s official online ticket shop. If you land on the main site and see nothing but barn weddings, you are not in the wrong place — you just have not found the box office yet.
Oz Country: Making a Day of Chittenango
Part of the fun of a venue like this is the trip, and Chittenango is a better destination than its size suggests. This is the birthplace of L. Frank Baum, the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and the village leans into it: downtown has had a yellow brick sidewalk since 1982 (redone in stamped concrete in 2007), the All Things Oz Museum displays original costumes, props, and collectibles, and every June the village throws Oz-Stravaganza, a three-day festival whose parade has featured actors who played Munchkins in the 1939 film.
So yes — the newest concert venue in Central New York is a safari park in the town where Oz was born. Sometimes upstate New York just hands you these sentences.
The drive itself is easy. Chittenango sits roughly 16 miles east of downtown Syracuse, which puts The Haven about 20 minutes from the city and within comfortable striking distance of Utica, Rome, and the Turning Stone corridor. If you are coming from farther west, it pairs naturally with a Syracuse afternoon — the Westcott neighborhood or Armory Square for an early dinner, then a short hop east on Route 5 or the Thruway.
Before You Go
- Buy through the official ticket shop. The venue’s main website is wedding-focused and carries no event listings — the online shop is the only place concert tickets are sold.
- Bring your own chairs if you want to sit, and know they will be placed behind the reserved section. GA is standing only otherwise.
- Check doors and start times per show. They vary — Montgomery Gentry lists doors at 6 PM and music at 7 PM.
- Consider staying over. The Haven’s resort side offers bungalows overlooking the lion and tiger enclosures and luxury African-style tents. Waking up next to a lion habitat the morning after a Marshall Tucker show is not an experience any other venue in New York offers.
- Make it a Chittenango day. The yellow brick sidewalk and the All Things Oz Museum are downtown, minutes from the venue.
- Pack a layer. Open farmland east of Syracuse cools off quickly after sunset, even in high summer.
New venues in their second season are usually still figuring out who they are. The Haven of the Wild already seems to know: a country-leaning outdoor stage on a safari park, twenty minutes from Syracuse, in the town that gave the world the yellow brick road. I have driven a lot farther for a lot less interesting nights. Keep an eye on this one — and check our Central New York concert listings for every show we are tracking there this season.