Inside restaurants, bars, and coffee houses — and on some patios — live, original music takes over Normal Heights and surrounding areas this weekend for Adams Avenue Unplugged.
“We have acoustic, jazz, folk — even bigger bands that might be plugged in, but they're still, like, kind of an acoustic guitar base to it,” said Julia Sanchez of the Adams Avenue Business Association.
She’s the assistant director of the organization, which puts on the event. Sanchez is expecting at least 10,000 people to come and watch what will be mostly local acts.
“Most people are from the greater San Diego area, but we do have a few that come in from LA or northern California.”
Jon Hasz makes up half a band.
He and his wife Cat make up The Beard and The Bird. They live in Ramona.
“We kind of have different arrangements. So it's always my wife on upright bass and I play guitar and sing and play banjo and some other stuff,” Hasz said of their band.
They’ve performed at Adams Avenue Unplugged once before and are excited to be back for another event.
“Rather than big and loud and crazy, you still have a little bit of that, but it's really more focused on the songwriting, which I think is pretty cool,” Hasz said about Adam Avenue Unplugged.
This year’s festivities will begin Friday night with a film about the festival's founder and the main event takes place from noon to midnight on Saturday across 20 different stages.
“It's a huge day for bars and restaurants, everybody is full,” Sanchez said.
The headliner concert by California Guitar Trio and the opening night film are the only paid parts of the event — everything else is free for people of all ages to enjoy.
