About Pops

The East Sacramento Pops in the Park started in 1991, with an afternoon concert. In 1995, Councilmember Steve Cohn transformed Pops in the Park into a series of evening concerts. Cohn also saw an opportunity to raise money for our under-funded neighborhood parks while bringing free, quality entertainment to the community. Sponsorship and advertising dollars, as well as proceeds from the sale of food and beverages at the events, have been used since 1995 to fund the events, enhance our neighborhood parks, bring improvements to the neighborhood and provide youth athletic scholarships.

With the tough economy in 2009 and 2010, came new and deeper cuts to City services, including reduced hours and even elimination of recreation swim hours at many city pools. However, through grants from Pops in the Park and a concerted effort by neighborhood and business associations, local businesses and residents, enough funding was raised to restore most of the pool hours at Glenn Hall Pool and Bertha Henschel Wading Pool for the past two swim seasons. Pops in the Park funds were also used to help complete “Elvas Parkway”, a pedestrian and bicycle improvement project completed in Spring 2011.

Past projects also supported by Pops dollars also include:

• “Welcome to East Sacramento” signage project
• Youth athletic scholarships for River Park and East Sac baseball and soccer leagues
• M Street Plaza Fountain located at 48th and M Streets
• Glenn Hall tennis court resurfacing project
• New slide at Glenn Hall Pool
• Decorative fencing at the Clunie pool and a seat wall built between the two pools
• Historic acorn streetlights around the perimeter of McKinley Park
• McKinley Village Playground
• Reconstruction of the McKinley Park Pond
• Reconstruction of Sutter's Fort Pond
• Reconstruction of the McKinley Park tennis courts
• Expansion of the McKinley Park jog trail into the panhandle
• Installation of the East Sacramento Room (Clunie Community Center)
• Reconstruction of the wading pools at Bertha Henschel Park and McKinley Park
• Handicapped accessible drinking fountains at McKinley Park and East Portal Park
• Construction of new playgrounds at East Portal Park, Glenn Hall Park
• Caleb Greenwood School and Theodore Judah School
• Rehabilitation of Winn Park
• Construction of the Yermol Memorial Fountain at Carlson Drive
• Extended hours at the Bertha Henschel Wading Pool

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