WALNUT CREEK, CA – Downtown Walnut Creek turned itself into a block party last Wednesday, and if you missed it, you have exactly one more shot this summer.
The Locust Street Festival returned July 8, shutting down stretches of Locust, Cypress, and Bonanza streets from 5 to 8:30 p.m. for an evening of live music, food vendors, kids’ activities, and the kind of loose, wandering energy that only happens when you close a few downtown streets and tell people to come hang out.
This year’s festival is a tighter affair than last summer’s series – just two dates, July 8 and August 5 – but the opening night packed enough into three and a half hours to feel like a full-on downtown takeover.
The music was scattered across multiple corners. DJ Rich Era held down the Rooftop stage. DJ Heartbreak worked North Locust. Bourbon Highway set up line dancing and live music at their Water Light Plaza setup. Over on the Cypress Stage, Mad Apple played from 6:30 to 8:30. The sound bled across the closed streets in the way only an outdoor downtown festival can manage – overlapping and slightly chaotic, and somehow that was the point.
The food lineup ran from Duck Donuts to Chilly Willys Smokehouse BBQ, Sushi Obsession to Melo’s Italian Table. Tifa Chocolate and Gelato hosted a gelato-eating contest at 7 p.m. because of course they did. Uncle Mike’s Giant Sausages was there, because no Bay Area street festival is legally allowed to happen without a giant sausage vendor.
The festival also marked the debut of downtown’s new Entertainment Zone, a city program designed to let businesses serve drinks and host activities across the festival footprint. City staff were posted up throughout the evening, part information booth, part proof that the city actually wants this to work.
For families, the setup was unusually well-stocked: face painting, balloon twisting, crafts, miniature golf, even mobile pet adoptions. And the aerial arts performance on Locust Street – silk performers suspended from rigging, twisting and dropping above a crowd holding phones up – was the kind of scene that makes you stop walking. Plenty of people did.
If you go (August 5): The festival runs 5 to 8:30 p.m., same footprint. Streets close from 1 to 10 p.m. – Locust between Mt. Diablo Boulevard and Civic Drive, Cypress and Bonanza between North California and Commercial Lane. South Locust and Lesher Center garages stay open. Admission is free with an RSVP. BART to Walnut Creek station drops you a short walk from the action. And yes, it is dog-friendly, provided your dog is cool with crowds and a gelato-eating contest happening somewhere nearby.
One more night. August 5. Mark it.
