About
Todos Santos Plaza
Todos Santos Plaza comprises 2.5 downtown acres between Salvio Street, Willow Pass Road, Grant Street and Mt. Diablo Street. The plaza was dedicated in 1868 by its pioneer founders Don Salvio Pacheco, Don Fernando Pacheco and Don Francisco Galindo as the public square in one of the original 20 blocks laid out for the new town. The 1993-94 renovation project was the square's seventh major renovation.
Todos Santos Plaza boasts a turfed area with large trees, colorful flowers, picnic tables, benches and a small children's play area. A granite stage and fountain enhance the many community events held in this historic "town square." The "Music at Noon" and "Music and Market" concert series, Pacific Coast Farmer's Market, California Symphony, KidFest, OktoberFest and Fourth of July Parade are some of the annual events in downtown Concord.
For a complete calendar of
events at Todos Santos Plaza
visit
ConcordFirst.org.
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Community
Come See a Show!
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The City of Concord
presents
Complete Summer Show Line-up
Over Until Next Summer: Movie Nights in the Plaza (every Thurs. in August)
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Concord's 22nd annual Music and Market series opens on May 4th with Alegres de Coalcoman featuring the traditional acoustic music of Michoacán, Mexico. The season closes 37 shows later on September 16th with the kings of local Zydeco and Cajun music, the Zydeco Flames. The schedule is intentionally eclectic, which well reflects Concord—the most diverse city in the Diablo Valley. Music and Market
Series Thursdays evenings, 6:30pm to 8pm Community Sing-Alongs Community sing-alongsduring the intermission of selected evening concerts.New this year, a special Todos Santos Plaza House Band called the “Todos Santos Players” has been formed to lead short sing-along segments during the intermission of ten of the evening concerts. The house band will lead the crowd in songs about summer such as “Summertime” by Gershwin, “Lazy Afternoon” by the Kinks, “Summer in the City” by the Lovin' Spoonful and so on. A schedule of the sing-along nights will be available at the concerts. Click on the links below to download and print lyric sheets to bring to the show. 9/9/10 Thurs Eve Concert: Midnight Sun Sing-along Lyrics |
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Directions to
Todos Santos Plaza
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The easiest route to Todos Santos Plaza is from the I-680 freeway. Take the Willow Pass exit, and travel east (680 southbound: turn left; 680 northbound: turn right). The Plaza is located between Mt. Diablo Street and Grant Street. From the Concord BART station, walk four blocks down Grant Street to reach Todos Santos Plaza. In addition to ample street parking, there are two parking garages near Todos Santos Plaza. The Salvio Street parking garage has 525 spaces with entrances on both Salvio and Colfax Streets. The Todos Santos Parking Center has 418 spaces and is located on the corner of Concord Ave and Pacheco Street with entrances on Pacheco Street and Salvio Street. |
Community
Concerts are produced by OceanWorks Productions
(OWP),
specialists in booking, promoting and producing music for
public and private events.
Contact OWP to produce music
for your next special event.
Click for details
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Concord's 22nd annual Music and Market series opens on May 4th with Alegres de Coalcoman featuring the traditional acoustic music of Michoacán, Mexico. The season closes 37 shows later on September 16th with the kings of local Zydeco and Cajun music, the Zydeco Flames. The schedule is intentionally eclectic, which well reflects Concord—the most diverse city in the Diablo Valley.
From classical to reggae, to blues and bluegrass, there is something for everyone. The series is designed to attract people of all age groups and backgrounds. Our ideal audience is one that has all generations present, grandkids to grandparents from all walks of life. The Tuesday noontime concerts are primarily acoustic. We've framed the series with two exceptional Mexican groups in traditional costumes. The voices, harps, violins and brass of both these bands are note-on and picture perfect. The noontime concerts open with Alegres de Coalcoman and end with Mariachi Mexicanisimo, still the best mariachi group in the Bay Area. Seniors will love the line-up, too. We've brought back Swing Fever who boast some of the great performers of jazz and swing in the Bay Area.
The group Ancestral Water offers a traditional mix of original Irish/American songs and features songs of the Gold Rush. William Florian, formerly of the legendary folk group The New Christy Minstrels, will present a concert of classic folk and John Denver. The Real Vocal Quartet will perform classical and popular standards for classical string quartet—and they sing too! Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are rockers this year. James Clark will croon for the Moms on Sunday May 9th with his awesome tribute to Elvis. The Best Intentions will perform their acclaimed Motown revue for the Dads on Sunday June 20th.
In July, the Tuesday program switches to evenings, 6:30 to 8pm, and will host “Tuesday Night Blues”, a four concert run of blues beginning with legendary vocalist Maria Muldaur. The Channel 5 Eyewitness Blues Band will appear the following week with a new CD under their belt. Other groups include blues guitar innovator David Landon and his great band, as well as local favorites, the Delta Dogs, which features Dennis and Johnny Erokan, and Josh Fogerty (John Fogerty's son). Tuesdays finish with National Night Out on August 3rd with music running in different locations around the plaza. Annie Sampson (who is a math teacher at Mount Diablo High School and was the legendary vocalist from Stoneground) will headline from 6:30 to 8pm on the main stage. And then from 8 to 9:30pm we'll have some hot acoustic music in the Toscano and Panama Bay courtyard, a public karaoke set up in front of Suwa's Japanese restaurant, and Steve Sage's Rock, Rhythm and Blues Revue in the courtyard by Skipolini's Pizza.
Thursday evenings are Concord's largest regular events with a 3000 to 5000 weekly attendance. People come to see and be part of a “happening”. They want to dance; they're ready to have fun and to experience their community in full flower. It truly is a “summer of love” year to year on Thursday evenings. This year, the Thursday night concerts are framed by two of the most loved Cajun and Zydeco groups in the Bay Area. Tom Rigney will rev up the crowd on May 6th with his characteristic and flamboyant Cajun fiddle songs, and The Zydeco Flames will close the series with their spicy Cajun dance show. The Tom Rigney concert is paired with an Infineon stock car parade and the Zydeco Flames show includes a “Concord on the Green” event which features organizations and information about practical ways to reduce our environmental footprints.
Thursday night highlights are many, including three concerts showcasing reggae, calypso and other Caribbean styles. On these nights, disaster relief organization will be at the shows collecting donations for Haitian and Chilean earthquake victims. The bands are Native Elements on May 13th, Freesound (from Hawaii) on July 22nd, and Midnight Sun on September 9th. All are top notch groups in their genres. On Thursday June 3rd, Concord hosts the Barbershop Harmony Festival, a special evening of six Barbershop groups featuring varied styles, genders, ages and costumes. As always, the lineup includes many talented bands from a variety of genres that play original music. Highlights include Finding Stella (June 10th), female-led rockers who have an unmistakable, earthy Melissa Etheridge style, as well as soul crooner, Tasche (June 17th), who has been called "The Bay Area's answer to Stevie Wonder." Other big show-stopping bands include the Irish rockers the Young Dubliners on tour (July 15th) and Salsa kings Orquesta Borinquen on July 29th. This year, Concord salutes the 40th anniversary of “Peanuts” and several bands will be performing the Charlie Brown Theme in their own styles from jazz to jam. “Movie Nights in the Plaza” returns with movies following the concerts every Thursday evening in August. Two nights follow the Peanuts theme with Charlie Brown movies. On August 26th, before one of the Charlie Brown films, the generation Z rockers, Crunchy Frog, will perform amazing renditions of classic rock tunes. Crunchy Frog is blowing people's minds all over the Bay Area. These kids range in age from 9 to 14, but perform like grown ups. On August 19th, the sensational fourteen-member Michael Jackson tribute band, Foreverland, will be paired with the Michael Jackson concert film, “This Is It”. And the fabulous Beatles tribute, the Sun Kings, returns (August 5th) paired with a Beatles-inspired film. New this year, a special Todos Santos Plaza house band called the “Todos Santos Players” has been formed to lead short sing-along segments during the intermission of ten of the evening concerts. The house band will lead the crowd in songs about summer such as “Summertime” by Gershwin, “Lazy Afternoon” by the Kinks, “Summer in the City” by the Lovin' Spoonful and so on. A schedule of the sing-along nights will be available at the concerts and the audience will be able to download the lyrics at CommunityConcerts.com to take to the park for singing. All this rounds out to what might very well be the best summer concert season in downtown Concord—ever. More information is available at
ConcordFirst.org Photos by Bob Hakins |
