This year has seen a true entertainment revival on Main Street, one that has continued into July with the return of a standout soiree.
After years of dormancy due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Summer Soulstice Festival returns on Saturday for its 20th anniversary. The free event thrown by the Main Street Business Improvement Association (MSBIA) will have music, art and activities for all ages, running from 12pm to 7pm.
MSBIA’s Jenny Rice explained that Summer Soulstice "took a lot of different turns" since the street festival was scrapped in 2020. During the pandemic, Main Street was able to work with the city to close the street for endeavors like fitness classes and acoustic music concerts, but the feeling for a full-fledged festival remained.
"We kind of had these iterations of a closed street event, just because we wanted to keep some momentum, and it worked fine … [but] it seemed like we needed an identity," Rice said. "Open street things were fun, but it needed to have a theme, and that’s when we said, let’s bring this back."
The tradition returns with a force, closing the street down for two different music stages. The Hollister Stage will be graced by Nick Kennnerly, female AC/DC tribute band Herway to Hell and Jane Fonda’s; while the Pier Stage has performances from Selfish Sons, La Compañía and the Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute Red Hot Tribute.
For the more visually-enticed, a grant from the City of Santa Monica’s Cultural Affairs department paved the way for a pop-up art gallery at Summer Soulstice, with over 50 visual artists in tow. Rice said the idea began at the Montana Avenue Art Walk, with her inviting various artists to set up shop.
Kids will have the spotlight via a partnership with Pump Station & Nurtury, lending out activities like face painting, musical story time and interactions with Super Soccer Stars. Adult fun will be had as well in the VIP Beer Garden, a $20 expense that will include a complimentary keychain or kookie from Aviator Nation, as well as tastings from the likes of JuneShine and Easy Rider American Beer.
None of these amenities and more would be possible without another partnership, this time with Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath’s office. Submitting a grant to Horvath, the Main Street association was eventually given $15,000 to put on Summer Soulstice and September’s Day of the Dog festival.
"Really having the funds to close the street and then having the funds to really bring back things that our people are coming to see … [it] really took us four years to get back to that level," Rice said.
This is the third major event in the past several months for Main Street, which hosted the MAINopoly event recently followed by the successful Fourth of July Parade. Juggling all the events takes "a lot of time and effort," Rice noted, but holds true to the association’s ambitions.
"I think that the goal is to showcase Main Street to all the community, to all of Santa Monica, and to just bring it back to its heyday where people [came], where it was the cool place to hang out."
Summer Soulstice will also feature the EdgeMar Courtyard satellite bar, a pop-up from skatepark experience Beyond the Board and a bevy of street vendors. For more information and to purchase beer garden tickets, visit mainstreetsm.com
