Dancing in the park: Kiwanis Club of La Jolla Concerts by the Sea series returns July 16

Josh Schreiber and his tribute band The Springsteen Experience will perform this summer in La Jolla.

June 5, 2023 10 AM PT

The 2023 season of the Kiwanis Club of La Jolla Concerts by the Sea kicks off July 16 with one goal — to have people dancing in La Jolla’s Ellen Browning Scripps Park.

The series of concerts on four consecutive Sundays is sponsored and organized by the Kiwanis Club of La Jolla as a gift for the community. All performances are free and will begin at 3:30 p.m.

“The music we have is great,” concert series Chairman Howard Zatkin said. Bands The Heroes and Full Strength will return to the series after performing last year, and Atomic Groove and The Springsteen Experience will appear for the first time.

Dancers let loose in Scripps Park at the 2022 Kiwanis Club of La Jolla Concerts by the Sea opener.

All four bands have different styles but one thing in common: Zatkin wanted to make sure the bands would have people dancing, “not people sitting back and listening.”

Full Strength and The Heroes “are really fantastic bands as far as people dancing,” he said.

Atomic Groove, Zatkin added, “are very high energy. … it is a party.”

The Springsteen Experience, a tribute band with members based mostly in Orange County, was hired after they performed at Zatkin’s 80th birthday celebration last year.

“I’m a huge Springsteen fan,” Zatkin said.

Band frontman Josh Schreiber, who grew up “a couple doors down” from Springsteen in New Jersey, is “just glad that [Zatkin] is including us in that series,” Schreiber said. “It’s a good level of entertainment.”

The concerts, once run by the La Jolla Town Council and La Jolla Rotary Club, paused after 33 years at the end of the 2016 season due to funding issues.

The series relaunched in 2022, and is now run by the Kiwanis Club of La Jolla, which also runs the La Jolla Half Marathon, Junior Olympics, La Jolla Cove Swim and pancake breakfast.

“We love doing outdoor summer concerts,” Zatkin said, “They are a lot of fun and it’s a great experience for people who love rock and roll.” He encouraged concert-goers to bring blankets and chairs for the moments they’re not dancing.

“I’ve enjoyed putting the whole thing together,” he said. “It’s fun to do something like this for the community.”