So -- you like Second Saturdays?

Do you like the way this local arts night has morphed into a street fair? Have you watched the event grow so big that you've hoped it could take over the central city more than once a month?

Your prayers may be answered this month when a new Saturday street fair debuts in Sacramento. Sponsored by Sacramento News & Review (SN&R), "Design Downtown" will bring mostly locally made or "do it yourself" (DIY) fashion and art to the K Street Mall from 3 to 9 p.m. every third Saturday starting July 18.

"We looked at the success of Second Saturday and said, 'Maybe that's something we can build on,' " said Clay Nutting, the sales and marketing manager for the paper. "We hope that it becomes a local, DIY kind of experience."

The weekly alternative paper is putting together "a creative block party" to bring more energy and business to the pedestrian mall, which is often nearly empty on weekends.

"No one's going to show up to see Sacramento News & Review," he said. "It's the vendors, it's the musicians, it's the businesses, it's the excitement of going out on a Saturday and doing something new."

SN&R has been working closely with the city and event partners -- the Hard Rock Cafe, as well as Cosmo Cafe and Social Nightclub, the former operated by Paragary Restaurant Group and the latter operated by Randy Paragary and Bob Simpson at The Cosmopolitan, 10th and K streets -- to get the event up and running in a short time. Beer makers Budweiser and Corona are event sponsors.

On Friday, SN&R staffers were still reaching out to other mall businesses to let them know about the event and how they can participate. Paragary Restaurant Group quickly became interested after canceling the Bloc Concert Series planned for last Saturdays at Marshall Park due to lack of profit. Few people went, especially to the June 27 concert that competed with other events that day, including SN&R's Music Fest and SAMMIES (Sacramento Area Music Awards) Ceremony.

In May, the concert series, Midfest Summer Celebration and Paragary Restaurant Group owner Randy Paragary came under fire from some Marshall Park residents and neighborhood groups. Residents expressed concern over impacts the events might have on the primarily residential neighborhood a few weeks after a Cinco de Mayo street party got out of hand outside Paragary's Centro Cocina Mexicana. Residents requested that the events be held downtown in a business district.

SN&R, a media sponsor for the concerts, was aware of the situation. But SN&R staff had already been planning the Third Saturday event, so its hasty launching isn't Paragary's attempt to meet residents' requests by moving the Bloc Concert to the mall, Nutting said.

"We looked at some of the concerns with events happening throughout town and thought that (K Street Mall) area might be more accepting of what we're looking to accomplish," Nutting said.

At the Seventh Street entrance to Westfield Downtown Plaza, the Hard Rock Cafe will hold a free, all-ages show featuring local teen bands on an inside stage from 3 to 6 p.m. Social will feature an after-party event with DJs. The main stage will be set up on 10th Street near the alley between K and J streets. Bands including The Kinetics, ZuhG and Musical Charis will play that stage after 5 p.m. Cosmo Cafe is extending its catering license to have a barbecue and beer garden.

Hard Rock Cafe staff think the event is "great," said Sales and Marketing Manager Kim Templeton.

"I think Sacramento has a lot of creative people, a lot of great artists, a lot of great musicians," she said. "I think K Street is a great area to bring some activity here."

The event will feature eclectic vendors selling fashion, jewelry, arts and crafts, while highlighting businesses on and around the mall. Some vacant storefronts plaguing the mall would ideally be used for art workshops, he said.

"Everybody knows K Street has had its ups and downs. (But) there are these really great high spots we want to accentuate," said Nutting.

At least 40 vendors are already on board to set up tables, booths and tents on the mall from Ninth to 11th streets and on 10th Street, which will be closed to vehicle traffic. Vendors range from local fashion designers and comic book artists to photographer Kenna Foster.

Nutting said he hopes street performers will get involved and he's encouraging other businesses to get musicians to play outside their storefronts. A jazz group is expected to play on a street corner.

By early Friday afternoon, the city's Parks and Recreation Department had awarded a conditional permit for the Design Downtown series. The official permit will be awarded as soon as SN&R gets insurance coverage for the event, said Recreation Superintendent Teresa Jackson, who oversees the department's special events office. A conditional permit allows an organizer to plan and advertise an event, she added.

A permit for the entire series will be awarded, rather than one for each date, because parks staff believe the mall will be a "good fit" for the event and crowd. Paragary Restaurant Group had to apply for a permit for each concert in the Bloc Concert Series so the city could evaluate whether Marshall Park could accommodate the crowd, Jackson said.

"With (K Street Mall) it's a much larger venue, so we don't have the same concerns with attendance," she said.

Off-duty Sacramento police officers have been hired to work the event. A sergeant will monitor the sound level, which will be established on the permit. The permit requires the beer garden to serve its last drink at 8:30 p.m. and the event to end at 9 p.m. No parking enforcement problems are anticipated.

SN&R also has worked with Sacramento Regional Transit (RT) District engineers to safely lay out the street fair without impeding light rail trains, which will be running every 15 minutes in both directions. Vendors will back up to storefronts and must be at least 10 feet from the tracks. Pedestrians must stay behind yellow warning tiles running on both sides of the track.

"We want to make sure the trains operate as they should and we want to make sure everybody is safe. The trains regularly operate in a pedestrian environment," said Alane Masui, RT's assistant general manager of marketing and communications. She encouraged people attending Design Downtown to use light rail.

"Light rail is the perfect way to travel to the event. It'll take you right to the event," she added.

Paragary Restaurant Group did not return phone calls.

As the event grows, SN&R will work with more businesses to find "creative ways" to tie them into Design Downtown, Nutting said. The paper wants to help businesses that are "sticking it out" on the mall despite the blight and the recession, he said.

"It's very organic. What it evolves into -- I'm just as excited as anybody to find out," he said.