Park district to help revive Camarillo Concerts in the Park summer program

Ventura

The show will go on for the Camarillo Concerts in the Park, thanks to a joint effort by the City Council and the Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District.

The summer concert series, a 35-year tradition for the city, was in danger of ending last year when the Camarillo Arts Council told the City Council it would no longer be able to produce the event due to a lack of volunteers.

The event series most recently consisted of seven free concerts and two free movie screenings from June to September at Constitution Park, 1287 Paseo Camarillo. The city provided half the funding for the concert series and the Camarillo Arts Council provided the other half along with volunteers.

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At the park district board meeting on Jan. 2, the board unanimously voted for the park district to collaborate with the city of Camarillo to produce a smaller version of the event series. The city proposed to provide $58,241 in funding for four concerts to take place once a month from June to September.

“I’m very appreciative to the city that they’ve been proactive in jumping on this. I think it’s a project that could have easily disappeared,” park district board member Neal Dixon said. “It’s very popular, and I think the population of our city would be very disappointed if it didn’t happen.”

The funding breakdown would allocate $11,600 for sound, $14,000 for bands, $6,400 for lighting and an estimated $2,400 for security. The remaining budget of $18,000 would left up to the discretion of the park district to be used on staffing, marketing, insurance, hospitality expenses and reserves for unforeseen expenses.

The next steps for the project include further collaboration between the city and the park district in refining the program budget to include contingency funds, delegating responsibilities, developing marketing to promote the event and drafting an official funding agreement to be authorized by the City Council.