The free music festival Happy Sundays will return for its sixth year on Sunday, Aug. 28 in the Zaferia district of Long Beach.
The event spans 1.5 miles down Anaheim Avenue and will include 11 venues, starting with Supply and Demand and ending at DiPiazza’s. Each venue will have a bus stop outside venues for the double-decker red bus to drop off passengers throughout the day.
“It’s to get the community engaged and give something back where we live,” said creator of Happy Sundays, Julia Kugel. “So we wanted to have a day of free music.”
Kugel and her husband Scott Montoya started Happy Sundays with the hopes of creating an accessible community event. This year’s event is presented by their video channel for independent artists, TheMouth.tv.
“My hope, like every year, is just for people to have a good time and for the neighborhood to be happy and satisfied with the event,” Kugel said. “We call it Happy Sundays for a reason.”
While the majority of venues will invite bands to play live music all day, venues such as Compound, Long Beach Playhouse and Ashtanga Yoga will host other community events.
The Long Beach Playhouse will have a screening of “Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution” followed by an immersive experience with visuals by Mad Alchemist and an artist bazaar hosted by TheMouth.tv.
Attendees can bathe in sound at Ashtanga Yoga Long Beach’s sound bath called “Gongstravaganza” featuring Oracle Gong.
Indigenous performers, drummers and dancers called “Bearspring Singers,” will perform at Compound followed by a family art workshop.
For those more interested in satisfying their hunger, there will be food at venues such as Tennessee Jacks, Bamboo Club and DiPiazza’s while other stores will host food trucks. Liquid Death, a canned water company, will be providing free water to residents at all venues.
COVID-19 guidelines will follow state and city mandates and will be updated if necessary.
The first event for Happy Sundays will begin at noon and end with a closing set at Alex’s Bar at 9:30 p.m.To find more information including set times and bands, visit the festival’s website or Instagram @happysundaysfest.
