Oakland’s Festival By the Lake may be gone, but its spirit continues in the many free mini-festivals held around the shores of Lake Merritt. And an annual favorite, Town Up Tuesday, has booked its biggest headliner yet for Tuesday, May 21: Too Short.
How will a rap legend who routinely plays large arenas adapt to a lakeshore gazebo? It remains to be seen, but it’s completely free, so expect a huge crowd. Also performing are Town favorites 1100Himself, the Conscious Daughters and the Trunk Boiz — a formidable lineup in its own right — but Too Short all but guarantees the biggest Town Up Tuesday yet.
Produced by the Oakland nonprofit Urban Peace Movement, Town Up Tuesday was conceived as a way to bring people together after the pandemic while simultaneously engaging young people with civic issues and upcoming elections.
“The main message is about getting involved and paying attention to local issues that impact the everyday lives of people in Oakland and the Bay Area,” says Urban Peace Movement’s Nicole Lee. “Obviously we have a consequential election coming up in November, and we want people to be informed, and to pay attention to that election, especially at the local level.”
Lee herself grew up going to Festival By the Lake, and says she wants to help reinvigorate pride in Oakland — especially as San Francisco’s so-called doom-loop narrative migrates across the Bay to the Town.
