|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
An abbreviated 1st Weekends on Main series, three months chock full of Friday Concerts in the Park and the return of showcase special event nights are among the highlights of the Pleasanton Downtown Association’s 2024 schedule announced last Friday.
The event lineup, which kicks off with the St. Patrick’s Day Brew Crawl on March 16, is the result of months of planning by the PDA and its Board of Directors to respond to feedback from downtown businesses and residents and develop the right “balance of our event mix,” according to Executive Director Laura Brooks.
“We are excited for a fun year in downtown full of events tailored for everyone and we invite our residents and visitors to come downtown to eat, shop and play often in 2024,” Brooks told the Weekly. “Downtown Pleasanton is the living room of our city … it’s where we gather, where we connect and where we celebrate. We are vibrant because of the amazing people who choose to love local and support small.”
The major change from recent years is the 1st Weekends on Main program, which was born during the COVID-19 pandemic to support outdoor shopping and dining, reducing to just three installments and running only Saturdays and Sundays instead of starting on the Friday evenings.
“We love these weekends and know that our community does as well. But as life has returned to a more normal pace, attendance at some weekends has diminished,” Brooks said. “Our event schedule changes will allow us to have three amazing 1st Weekends … while we look to bring in additional street closure events during the year.”
The 1st Weekends on Main will take place on June 1-2 featuring the BMX Show & Hot Rod Row, July 6-7 with Salute to Service & Chili Cook-Off and Aug. 3-4 including the Porsche Show. Brooks also teased “some surprises” to the series that have yet to be announced.
The Concerts in the Park, a summertime favorite at Delucchi and Lions Wayside parks, will run every Friday evening from 7-8:30 p.m. between June and August, marking a return to the pre-pandemic schedule as the concerts did not occur amid 1st Weekends primarily for crowd-control reasons. The full concert act lineup is due to be released in the coming weeks, according to the PDA.
In addition to the St. Patrick’s Day weekend event, the opening month will feature the Bunny Hop kids’ scavenger hunt on March 23. Another youth scavenger hunt is set in the fall, Pumpkins on Main from Oct. 11-27.
Other events on the schedule include the Summer Wine Stroll (May 4), Forkful Culinary Crawl (Sept. 7), Halloween Brew Crawl (Oct. 26), Small Business Saturday (Nov. 30), Magical Holiday Evening and Hometown Holiday Parade (Dec. 7-8) and Spirit & Sweater Stroll (Dec. 14).
“It’s important to note that there are more events in the works than what is shown on the schedule so please stay tuned for some exciting new announcements,” added Brooks, who has had her interim tag removed as she’s agreed to stay on to lead the PDA through the end of 2024. The board plans to reinitiate the search for a permanent executive director in the fall – after the position was vacated and Brooks brought back into the fold temporarily last May.
