Most Foster City residents know Off the Grid runs on Wednesday nights at Leo Ryan Park. Most have heard of Summer Days. A few have made it to the free Friday concerts at the amphitheater. What almost nobody has done is read the schedule carefully enough to see how these things connect — or to catch the one detail that makes the whole structure legible.
The city's outdoor programming from April through August is not a collection of separate calendar items. It's a layered sequence that builds toward a single peak weekend, with the operational seams between events doing most of the communicating. Once you see the logic, you also see which logistics trip people up every year — and how to avoid them.
The Weekly Foundation: Off the Grid at Leo Ryan Park
Off the Grid: Foster City returned to Leo Ryan Park on April 1, 2026, and runs every Wednesday through October from 5 to 9pm. The format: eight rotating food creators each week, live entertainment, a beer garden, and a lawn setup that Off the Grid describes as new for this season — blanket-friendly grass rather than a food-court configuration. The shift matters if you've been before and remember standing with a plate. Bring a blanket now.
The location is the meadow at Leo Ryan Park, with the lagoon as the backdrop and Adirondack chairs on the lawn for anyone who didn't bring their own seating. Dogs are welcome. The crowd skews family-heavy on the earlier end of the window; the beer garden fills in after 7pm. Regulars tend to know which trucks are rotating through that week by checking the Off the Grid app before leaving the house — the lineup changes, and some trucks develop followings quickly. The lobster roll from one of the seafood vendors has generated enough repeat mentions in reviews to qualify as a reliable order.
Parking during Off the Grid shifted this year due to Community Center construction: the city directs attendees to Shell Boulevard street parking, the City Hall lot at 610 Foster City Boulevard, and the lot at 1065 East Hillsdale Boulevard across from the fire station.
What Fills the Rest of June and July
Wednesday nights establish the weekly rhythm, but two other recurring events run alongside them through midsummer.
The city hosts free Friday night concerts in the Leo Ryan Amphitheater from 6 to 8pm throughout the summer. The format is consistent: local and regional performers, open lawn seating, no ticketing. These run on the same park footprint as Off the Grid but operate independently — there's no schedule conflict between a Wednesday market and a Friday concert, which means residents near the park can realistically anchor two evenings a week to Leo Ryan without doubling up.
The Fourth of July celebration is its own tradition: a full-day event with breakfast, lunch, live entertainment, family games, and a parade along Foster City Boulevard that takes entries from bikes, families, and dogs. The event is free and has run long enough to function as an informal neighborhood roll call — the kind of thing where you run into people you haven't seen since last summer.
The Week That Reveals the Logic
Here is the detail worth marking on the calendar: the Off the Grid marketplace scheduled for Wednesday, August 12 is canceled.
That's not an accident and it's not a staffing issue. Shell Boulevard — between East Hillsdale Boulevard and Foster Square Lane — closes to through traffic starting 9am on Tuesday, August 11, and doesn't reopen until 5am on Tuesday, August 18. The section between Foster Square Lane and Bounty Drive closes Thursday, August 13. Balclutha Drive closes the same day. The city is setting up a three-day festival that uses the park, the parking lots, and the road right-of-way simultaneously.
Summer Days runs August 14-16. The Off the Grid cancellation isn't incidental to that — it's the first sign that the infrastructure is already moving. If you're planning to use the park that week for anything other than the festival, the closure timeline is the relevant constraint.
Summer Days, August 14-16: The Details That Actually Matter
Summer Days is free to attend. Admission has never required a ticket. What does require advance planning: carnival ride wristbands, parking, and knowing which parts of the event run on which day.
Schedule by day:
| Day | What's Running |
|---|---|
| Friday, Aug 14 | Carnival rides (5–10:30pm) · Classic car show on Shell Blvd (4–7pm) · Amphitheater concert (6–8pm) · Food and beverage (5–8pm) |
| Saturday, Aug 15 | Vendor marketplace, SJMADE (11am–6pm) · Carnival rides (11am–11pm) · Rubber Ducky Scavenger Hunt (10am–5pm) · Full food truck operation |
| Sunday, Aug 16 | Vendor marketplace, SJMADE (11am–5pm) · Rubber Ducky Scavenger Hunt (10am–11:30am) · Carnival rides continue |
The vendor marketplace is curated by SJMADE, the same organization that runs the artist-and-maker markets across the Bay Area. Sixty-plus vendors across both days. Food trucks are placed by Moveable Feast, Off the Grid's sister operation. The car show occupies Shell Boulevard on Friday evening; the scavenger hunt uses the lagoon and surrounding paths.
Carnival rides: Individual rides are 4 to 7 tickets each, at $1 per ticket, purchased at the event. Discounted unlimited-ride wristbands are available online through August 13 — that window opens June 22. After August 14, wristbands are only sold on-site at full price. If you're going with kids who want to ride more than two or three attractions, the advance wristband is the decision to make before the end of June.
Bike parking: Sports Basement is running complimentary bike valet on Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 5pm. Given the Shell Boulevard closures, arriving by bike removes the parking problem entirely for anyone close enough to ride.
Parking by lot:
- Parkside Towers, 1031 East Hillsdale Boulevard: $10, Saturday 9am–7pm, Sunday 9am–5pm
- City Hall lot, 610 Foster City Boulevard: $10, same hours
- Century lot, 1065 East Hillsdale Boulevard: $10, same hours
- Community Center / Foster City Library lot, 1000 East Hillsdale Boulevard: accessible parking, no charge noted
Event parking in private retail centers and nearby residential streets is not permitted. With Shell Boulevard closed through Bounty Drive, the approach from the Hillsdale side is going to carry most of the vehicle traffic. The City Hall lot is the least obvious option and tends to have more availability later in the morning.
The through-line from April 1 to August 16 is the same park, the same lagoon, the same community — at different volumes. Off the Grid on a Wednesday in May is the low-key version. Summer Days in August is the city's birthday, at full scale, with a three-day road closure to prove it. Both are worth showing up to; knowing how they connect is what lets you plan around them rather than being surprised by them.
Julie Flouty works with families who are figuring out whether Foster City fits their life, not just their budget. If you have questions about the neighborhood, the market, or what it's actually like to live here, reach out — she's here.
