The Kiwanis Club of Scotts Valley has announced that it raised about $20,000 in net proceeds in 2024 from the Music at Skypark concert series, which concluded Sept. 29.
Kiwanis will donate all the proceeds to Scotts Valley Unified School District to help fund music and arts programs in the local public schools. Over 50 volunteers, including Kiwanis clubs from Scotts Valley High School (the Key Club) and from UCSC (the Circle K Club), helped set up and run the two concerts at this summer’s Music at Skypark.
Area bands discounted their fees to perform and local food and drink vendors shared a major percentage of their proceeds with Kiwanis. Many local businesses contributed thousands of dollars to sponsor the concerts and area media carried advertising for the concerts for free or at a discount.
Featured bands for the Aug. 25 concert were Jive Machine and American Underdog, while Extra Large and The Shady Rest Band performed on Sept. 29. Several hundred concert-goers danced near the stage as headliner Extra Large closed the Music at Skypark concert season with a rousing encore that day.
“Music at Skypark had an incredibly successful season,” said Music at Skypark co-chairperson Jim Melehan. “It’s hard to believe we’ve been doing this for 15 years now. We may have had our biggest and most enthusiastic crowd ever at the last concert. We Kiwanians truly believe Music at Skypark has become a community event that people really look forward to. We’re proud of our effort and honored to help make our community and our schools a little bit better.”
Music at Skypark was recently voted the “Best Charity Event” of 2024 by Press Banner readers, while the Kiwanis Club won “Best Community Organization” of the year.
“On behalf of Kiwanis, I want to thank the many volunteers, sponsors, vendors, bands, students, teachers, school administrators and community members who supported us again this year,” Melehan concluded. “Truly, it’s been a 15-year team effort.”
