Ballet Folklorico De Esperanza [photo credit: Kidspace Children’s Museum]
The August 21 program, “Folklórica de México,” closes a Sunset Music Series run that began in late June and has moved through West African drumming, Indonesian bamboo percussion, Afro-Latin marimba and Filipino dance. For families in Pasadena and Altadena, the operative fact is the clock. The museum, which normally closes at 5:00 p.m., will stay open until 8:00 p.m. that night, and the performances cost nothing beyond general admission.
Ballet Folklorico de Esperanza will perform twice, at 5:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., in the Stone Hollow Amphitheater on the museum’s 3.5-acre campus in Brookside Park, next to the Rose Bowl. Kidspace describes the program as Mexican folk dance that explores cultures throughout Mexico.
Each evening in the series pairs live performance with hands-on art activities, and the museum’s exhibits stay open alongside them. The evening program runs from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., within museum hours of 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. that day. Standard hours are 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Admission is $17.00 for adults and for children age 1 and older, and $15.00 for seniors 62 and older. Infants under 1 enter free, as do members; family memberships start at $65 and include unlimited free admission. Reservations are recommended. The museum does not accept cash.
Families may bring a picnic or buy food from the café or from food trucks on site. Children must be accompanied by an adult, and adults without children are not admitted.
Kidspace, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, has said the 2026 Sunset Music Series was funded in part by a grant from the Pasadena Community Foundation.
In May, Sara Jennings, senior marketing manager for the museum, described the intent behind the season’s free Neighborhood Block Party in an interview with the Pasadena Weekly.
“We’re celebrating our community. Really, it’s a love letter to Pasadena and Altadena,” Jennings said. “We’re celebrating the diversity and the resilience of this community.”
She said the aim of the summer programming was unstructured time together. “I hope that families will have incredible experiences together … experience joy together, where they can get away from the regular things of life and connect with each other without distractions,” Jennings said.
The amphitheater has held other gatherings. Drum circles there brought families together in the weeks after the Eaton Fire, when Kidspace reopened on January 16, 2025, and offered 4,500 free-admission tickets, the museum said in December 2025.
Kidspace Children’s Museum is at 480 North Arroyo Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91103. Free parking is available in Rose Bowl Lot I, near the Jackie Robinson Baseball Field and the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center. The museum is reachable by Metro and Pasadena Transit. All museum spaces are wheelchair accessible, and wheelchairs are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
The second set begins as the light starts going out of the arroyo. When it ends, the gates close, and Kidspace’s summer of late Fridays is finished for the year.
NEED TO KNOW
The Kidspace Sunset Music Series presents “Folklórica de México,” featuring Ballet Folklorico de Esperanza, on Friday, August 21, 2026, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., with performances at 5:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. in the Stone Hollow Amphitheater. The program is included with general admission and free for members; admission is $17.00 for adults and for children age 1 and older, $15.00 for seniors 62 and older, and free for infants under 1. Family memberships start at $65 and include unlimited free admission. Reservations are recommended, and the museum does not accept cash. The venue is Kidspace Children’s Museum, 480 North Arroyo Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91103. Free parking is available in Rose Bowl Lot I, near the Jackie Robinson Baseball Field and the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center. For more, call (626) 449-9144 or visit kidspacemuseum.org/event/sunset-music-series-3/2026-08-21.
Ticket link: secure.kidspacemuseum.org/events/ebcd3d75-4988-f93a-5208-a1b5f442359f
