As the month of July comes to a close, so does the 21st season of the Friday Night Concerts in the Park. The city’s longest-running, outdoor music festival will come to a close on July 27th. The final concert will be headlined by local favorites The Brodys, who will bring their retro-pop sound to Cesar Chavez Plaza in their 15th Concerts in the Park appearance. Opening for The Brodys are local bands WRING and Hero's Last Mission. The free, all-ages concerts will take place 5 pm to 9 pm this Friday night. “It’s been an amazing Concerts in the Park season,” said Annie Stuckert, DSP Senior Manager of Event Operations and Development, “We entered our 21st year with record attendance, hugely p

From Old Sacramento’s ‘prohibition style’ speakeasies, to the Man Men era of Downtown’s dueling politicos and backroom deals, Sacramento has a long history of working hard and playing harder. The Downtown Sacramento Partnership’s (DSP) new Cap City Sips happy hour promotion celebrates just that, the art of balancing business with a splash of pleasure. This summer, DSP and local downtown businesses have joined forces to create a budget-friendly happy hour promotion for the Downtown District. Each restaurant or bar participating in Cap City Sips will offer a happy hour menu every Wednesday from 3-7pm featuring $2 beers, $3 wine, and $4 cocktails. The deals will continue each week all summer

93% of all American adults adult internet users are now on Facebook. While this is not a surprising statistic for anyone that has fielded a friend request from their mom, aunt or even grandpa, it does make it harder for small businesses to ignore Facebook as a platform to engage their target demographic. The argument that a business targets an older or less tech savvy demo than Facebook users just doesn’t hold water any longer. Businesses without a Facebook presence are not just passing up a valuable opportunity to engage their customers, provide customer service, and gain new consumers; they're falling behind. But just being on Facebook and setting up a business page isn’t enough. A Face

Downtown businesses are getting in on the underground social media campaign #HereWePurple. They’re supporting the Sacramento Kings while the NBA is in town through displays, specials, deals, freebies and more. The social media campaign #HereWePurple has encouraged Sacramento to show support for the Kings by “painting the town purple” today while the NBA is in town meeting with local business leaders. The facebook event encourages residents to wear purple, sport a Kings jersey, put sign in your windows and cars, put up flags, wear your purple jewelry or whatever you've got all day long. “We've been watching the campaign on Twitter and wanted to get our downtown businesses to encourage Sac

In the past several years, social media has played an ever growing role in calling for, organizing, and executing social uprisings and upheaval around the globe. Increasingly, these uprisings are bringing about significant social change in not only their country of origin but amongst those involved via social media channels.  In contrast, some countries are dealing with unrest and the threat of uprisings by locking down Internet access and jailing citizens for sharing certain information online. The Social Media Club of Sacramento (SMCSac) makes a monthly habit of examining the various ways social media is impacting our everyday interactions, culture, and society at large. The club has pa

So, your business has a website. Then you heard that blogs are the thing that every website needs to helps your business connect with customers. So, now your website has a blog... and you have no idea what to do with it. Enter Jennifer Bourn, owner of Bourn Creative and the guest speaker at the Social Media Club, Sacramento (SMCS) workshop, "Blogging for Business". The workshop, held at Drexel University in Downtown Sacramento on March 24th, aimed to help small business owners and other business bloggers ensure the rewards reaped through their blog is worthy of the time spent.  There is no question that blogging, whether for business or pleasure, requires a significant investment of time

The weather forecast for Thursday is clear and sunny and Sacramento is counting down the hours to this year's biggest St. Patrick’s Day party. The de Vere’s Party in the Park kicks off at 10 a.m. on Thursday March 17th at Cesar Chavez Plaza in Downtown Sacramento for 12 hours of St. Patrick’s Day festivities, music, pipes, dancers, food, and drinks. 9th street between I and J streets will be closed to traffic beginning at 5 am to make room for all of the St. Patrick's Day festivities happening in the park. The street will reopen to traffic after midnight. Advance ticket sales for the Party in the Park available at deveresderules.com end at 11:30 a.m. on March 16, but tickets are availabl

To celebrate its 10th year of community benefit funding, Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento (SMCS) will award one of its community partners an additional $10,000 grant for 2011. The winner will be determined through online voting that will close on February 16. The Downtown Sacramento Partnership (DSP) and 16 other local agencies are using social media to help garner the votes they need to win the additional grant money. "If the DSP is fortunate enough to be granted the additional funding, our organization plans to use it to fund homeless and youth outreach,” said Ryan Loofbourrow, DSP community services director, “Mental illness is one of the leading causes of homelessness. We would love

Today marks the official Grand Opening of the Westfield Downtown Ice Rink! Cue the trumpets, cut the ribbon, lace up those skates, because the Ice Rink is back. The best part is the folks at the Westfield Downtown Ice Rink really like to celebrate the Grand Opening with everyone in the Sacramento area. So from the minute the ribbon Mayor Johnson cuts the ribbon at noon to the moment the gates close at 10 pm, skating is 100% absolutely free of charge. Free to get in, free to rent skates, and free to bring all your friends. The little ice rink that you remember has some surprises in store this year, because the fact of the matter is, it is all grown up. This year the rink is turning 19 yea