By Sara Beth Williams–
The city plans to retire its annual Sunday Funday event and replace it with two concerts in the park events in 2026, Citrus Heights General Services Director Regina Cave said in December.
Sunday Funday has been an annual event held at Rusch Park each September, attracting thousands of people and offering numerous vendors, live music, a beer garden, a car show, bounce houses, and Citrus Heights Police K-9 demonstrations. Sunday Funday has been a long-standing tradition that began shortly after the city incorporated, pausing for two years during the COVID-19 pandemic and resuming in 2022.
Sunday Funday was also put on pause in 2025 so that the city could support the Sunrise Recreation and Park District’s 70th annual jubilee celebration in commemoration of the district’s anniversary, officials said.
Related: Sunday Funday won’t be happening this year: Here’s why – Citrus Heights Sentinel
At a Dec. 10 Citrus Heights City Council meeting in 2025, Cave alleged that, though the annual event is hosted at Rusch Park within the Sunrise Recreation and Park District, the city typically bore “most of the cost of the event as the official host.”
Last year, the city also launched an inaugural Citrus Nights concert in the park event, featuring live music from cover band Apple Z. According to Placer AI data, the city reported roughly 700 to 750 people attended the Citrus Nights event. Cave said she considers that “pretty successful,” considering it rained earlier in the day and that it was the inaugural launch of the event.
Sunday Funday saw 1,600 attendees in 2024 and cost $23,000, with an additional $13,000 in sponsorships and booth registration funding, bringing the total cost the city contributed to $36,000, Cave said.
Sunrise Recreation and Park District officials did not respond to comment prior to press time regarding the amount of funding contributed toward Sunday Fundays.
With the budget used in the past, city officials said Citrus Heights could host two separate Concerts in the Park events in August and September, instead of only one event in September. Because 2026 is an election year, Cave added that she wants to reserve booth spaces for candidates running for election for upcoming city council seats. Three City Council members have terms that are expiring in 2026.
Following the success of Citrus Nights, the city’s renewed focus on serving Citrus Heights residents more specifically when putting on events, and the higher cost and declining attendance of Sunday Funday, city staff proposed retiring Sunday Funday as a city event, and the council agreed.
Councilmember Tim Schaefer agreed that it is more costly and that half the attendees who stopped by his booth in the past were not from Citrus Heights.
Looking ahead, the city listed thirteen city-hosted events planned, with the addition of two concerts in the park, and included joining in the Big Day of Service for the second consecutive year. Citrus Heights officially joined the Big Day of Service event for the first time in 2025.
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