Fourth of July Concert and Picnic in Renovated Downtown Pleasanton Lions Wayside Park

The very first event scheduled at the newly renovated Lions Wayside Park will be “Celebrating Freedom and its Evolution since the Revolution,” a concert and picnic from noon to 1:30 p.m. on the Fourth of July. The park is located at 4401 First Street, across the street from one of the event sponsors, Meadowlark Dairy.

This free event, a program of Make A Difference for Pleasanton, involves dozens of volunteers, including the members of the Pleasanton Community Concert Band, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary.  Their Fourth of July concert will feature music they have performed over the past half-century, when these pieces were under the direction of of the original three conductors:  Jerry Lapinsky, Jay Roberts, and Bob Williams.  Williams will return to the podium this Independence Day to share conducting with Beth Wilson.

 Six hundred hot dogs lunches, cooked and served by Lions Club members, will be sold for $5 each, including chips and water.  Vegetarian options will be available.  Lions also will provide free hand-held American flags to the first 300 adults to arrive.

Tokens for ice cream cones at Meadowlark Dairy will be provided to children in the audience while supplies last.

Audience members should plan to bring their own chairs or blankets to sit on.  (Fifty folding chairs beneath a shade canopy will be available, courtesy of the Pleasanton Community Concert Band.)  Participants of all ages are encouraged to wear red, white, and blue. 

“This will be the twenty-fourth time that volunteers have put together ‘Celebrating Freedom and its Evolution since the Revolution’ for our community,” said founder W. Ron Sutton.  “On this 249th Independence Day, we celebrate our shared heritage with an old-fashioned Fourth.  Even if we disagree July 5 on current politics, we will do so with our expected behaviors of Respect, Responsibility, Compassion, Honesty, and Integrity.  We celebrate living in a Community of Character!”

Also being recognized during the program are the 2024 and 2025 Ed Kinney Community Patriots: Lisa & Randy Brown and Bill Butler; and Joe Callahan and Patrick O’Brien. 

Established in 2005, the award honors the memory of Ed Kinney, who was a past mayor of the city and also the first Master of Ceremonies for the local Fourth of July event.

Current Masters of Ceremonies Les Duman and Herb Ritter will provide commentary.   Mayor Jack Balch will provide brief opening remarks.

Special this year will be reading of an original poem by the former Pleasanton Teen Poet Laureate, Ishmeet Dhillon.  Founder W. Ron Sutton will offer a discourse on 1789.  Doug Miller will provide a eulogy for Chris Miller, a fellow military veteran and Ed Kinney Community Patriot; his birthday was July 4.

Other volunteers for the event include the color guard provided by American Legion Post #237 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #6298. Assisting with set-up will be members of Boy Scout Troop #908.

Sponsors include ACCUSPLIT, Heritage Bank, and Meadowlark Dairy.

This is an all-volunteer event.  If you are interested in helping with this event,
we would love to hear from you.

Please contact Ron Sutton
at info@CelebratingJuly4.org