Monday, August 10, 2026

Altadena’s Free Concert Series Plays On, 29 Summers and One Fire Later

The Blue Breeze Band brings Motown and soul to Loma Alta Park on Saturday, the sixth of seven shows this season

Nearly 15 months after Loma Alta Park reopened, its lower lawn fills again on Saturday night — this time with folding chairs and Motown.

The Blue Breeze Band plays at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 15, covering Motown, R&B, soul, funk, jazz and blues. It is the sixth of seven free shows the Rotary Club of Altadena is staging this summer with Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation, and the 29th season of a series that began in 1997.

One Saturday remains after this one. The season opened July 11 with Dream Like Taylor, a Taylor Swift tribute, then ran through Past Action Heroes, the all-female multicultural salsa band Las Chikas, the Beatles tribute Britain’s Finest and the steel drum reggae and soca band Upstream. Stevie Nicks Illusion closes it August 22.

The series has missed exactly one summer, 2020, when COVID-19 canceled it. It did not miss the summer after the Eaton Fire.

The concerts have not always been held here. They moved to Loma Alta after the January 2025 fire damaged Farnsworth Park, the series’ longtime home, according to Los Angeles County Parks. This is the second summer at the new location.

Loma Alta Park closed after the fire and reopened on May 17, 2025, following a $3.4 million renovation, the county Department of Parks and Recreation said. The county has called it the first of Altadena’s county parks to reopen after the fire, and said it compressed a rebuild that would normally take about 18 months into roughly two. The work added two Dodgers Dreamfields, a gymnasium renovated by the LA Clippers Foundation, a satellite senior center and a technology center.

“Loma Alta Park is a vital gathering place where our community can come together, especially in times of healing,” said Kathryn Barger, chair of the county Board of Supervisors, at the reopening.

For the club, the point is not only the music. “Our Rotary Club hopes to help continue building community from those that are displaced and those that are still just returning,” said Mark Mariscal, the club’s executive secretary and a fire survivor.

In announcing the 2026 lineup, the Rotary Club said it is “incredibly grateful” to Barger and the county Parks and Recreation Department for support that has kept the series going as Altadena recovers. Sponsors include the California Community Foundation, MonteCedro, Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts, Toyota Pasadena and Barger’s office, according to the club’s announcement.

Admission is free, and the Rotary Club sells beer and wine at all seven shows. The concert takes place on the lower lawn at 3330 North Lincoln Avenue, Altadena. The park’s number is (626) 398-5451, and information on the series is at altadenarotary.org.