Funk, soul, blues, jazz and metal — musical genres not so easily lumped together. But this weekend, a free concert at downtown Washington’s Festival Park will show music lovers how it’s done.

Mother’s Finest, an Atlanta-based band, will take the park’s main stage at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The band is considered one of the pioneering American funk bands of the 1970s and early ‘80s, with three albums that went gold and a successful touring career, opening for acts like Ted Nugent, Black Sabbath, The Who, Aerosmith and AC/DC.

CAPS, a band comprised of hometown musicians Chuck Phillips, James Weatherly, Wes Toler and Will Taylor, will open for Mother’s Finest at 5:30 p.m.

The free concert might be a Washington Harbor District Alliance event, but a Washington restaurant owner — Billy Dunn — pitched the idea, and is footing the bill, for the band’s performance, according to Beth Byrd, executive director of the Washington Harbor District Alliance.

“Basically the story is Billy Dunn. He’s the one who came up with the idea of inviting them out and he’s the one who really made it happen,” Byrd said. “He wanted to promote Washington as a destination and hoping to promote his restaurant, On the Waterfront.”

While the concert is free, Byrd said she’s hoping to raise a little money for WHDA in a couple of different ways. Unprecedented for Festival Park, On the Waterfront will host a beer garden and those with armbands will be allowed to drink alcohol in the roped-off park. A $5 donation to WHDA is being requested for each armband.

WHDA volunteers will also be selling hot dogs, chilidogs and barbecue, while On the Waterfront employees will have popcorn shrimp and fish and chips for sale. Byrd is counting on music lovers to stick around after the concert and try out the downtown restaurants.

“We’re encouraging people to go out to dinner when we get done with the concert,” Byrd said.

Based on feedback from the public, the Festival Park crowd might get rather large, Byrd said.

“I’ve heard from people in Virginia, in Raleigh — we expect to bring a lot of people to town with this concert,” Byrd said.