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Thursday Night on the Square to go on hiatus

by The AV Times Staff • July 30, 2015

Now in its 15th year, TNOTS is an award-winning event that brings families and businesses together for eight summer evenings. Each free event features fun for the entire family including live entertainment for adults and children, themed children's activities, creative arts and crafts and delicious food in an open-air market. (Contributed photo)
Now in its 15th year, TNOTS is a free event at Poncitlan Square that features fun for the entire family, including live entertainment for adults and children, themed children’s activities, creative arts and crafts and delicious food in an open-air market. (Contributed photo)

PALMDALE – The City of Palmdale’s has announced that its popular Thursday Night on the Square (TNOTS) event is going on hiatus for the remainder of 2015.

“TNOTS has grown larger than we imagined,” said Palmdale’s Director of Recreation and Culture Keri Smith. “We’ve outgrown Poncitlán Square and we need to take a step back.”

“Unfortunately, with more than 3,000 people on 2 acres, it makes for some very tight quarters,” Smith said. “It is a challenge to provide the kind of service and activities that have made TNOTS such a wonderful experience over the years. We have so many kids each week that we’re seeing longer lines at craft activities. It’s been difficult to keep the sidewalks clear as people meander around the park, and we don’t have enough parking for those who would like to attend.”

Over the years, features such as Camp TNOTS and exhibits like ARTown FUSION have been added to help accommodate the growth. But with each new addition and every passing year, the event’s popularity grew as well.

The city has also seen a large increase in participation in many areas, such as youth sports, movie nights, softball tournaments, DryTown, senior activities and events by outside groups at City facilities.

“Departmentally, we have had to redeploy our resources and make operational adjustments to accommodate growth across the department,” Smith noted.

“What began as a small outdoor market became a signature event in the Antelope Valley,” said Communications Manager John Mlynar. “Annie Pagliaro, whom I call the ‘Godmother’ of TNOTS, has a ton of creative energy, and she led a great team that created more than 100 memorable, fun-filled evenings for thousands of families. In some ways you can say we’re victims of our own success.”

“Community events create environments which memories and experiences can be built upon,” Smith added. “We look forward to creating a brand new family event that will continue a tradition of creating memories and experiences for decades to come.”

–

Filed Under: Palmdale

48 comments for "Thursday Night on the Square to go on hiatus"

  1. Frank Rizzo says

    August 3, 2015 at 5:56 pm

    Not surprised that they are doing away with the Thursday night in the dump, place is riddled with speed freaks and criminals.

    • Son of the Anti Rex says

      August 3, 2015 at 6:26 pm

      Sounds like you are describing Fern St. and it surrounding environs.

      • William says

        August 3, 2015 at 6:31 pm

        Frank Rizzo is probably stuck in Lancaster and can’t get out. Hence, the comment. Have sympathy, Son of the Anti Rex.

        • OG says

          August 3, 2015 at 9:38 pm

          You sound so bitter, Rex. Oops. I mean Frank.

  2. anticrime says

    July 31, 2015 at 6:41 pm

    Keep pressuring and hating the Sheriff and your wishes shall be granted, the Sheriff will leave the criminals alone and we the people will have to deal with them by ourselves, is this what we want?
    Just remember what happened in Ferguson, the crime skyrocketed when cops went “easy” at the time that the citizens threw everything at them for supposedly abuse of power.

    • Tim Scott says

      July 31, 2015 at 7:07 pm

      It’s funny to see “remember what happened in Ferguson” in a comment from someone who apparently has no idea what happened in Ferguson. Catch up on current events and try again.

  3. Mary says

    July 31, 2015 at 2:11 pm

    I think Marie Kerr too – it just makes Palmdale Blvd so busy on these days and it draws so many people. Palmdale Blvd is not equipped to handle the hundreds of people who come out to this weekly event. An incredible program for kids though – I got to give them that. But my bet too is that it will be held at Marie Kerr Park on the West Side. I think this will be good for the kids – the majority of Section 8 Housing homes on the West Side and many kids can benefit from all the programs that are offered at this event. Kids deserve to have something to look forward to on a weekday.

    • Gary says

      July 31, 2015 at 4:49 pm

      I think Marie Kerr not if your going to Fuss & fight in your own neighborhood why in the world would anybody else want to to set up shop in there neighborhood.

      • Mary says

        August 3, 2015 at 12:42 pm

        Palmdale is Palmdale, East or West and because there are so many Section 8 Houses on the West side of Palmdale, I think it would be the perfect park. Kids don’t cause problems – the adults do. Let’s not punish the kids because of what adults do to one another. These lower income kids who live on Section 8 on the West side of Palmdale need a stage, a bigger area for their crafts, and festivities. Crime happens everywhere – this isn’t about crime – it’s about space. I would hate to see this program end when there is such an incredible need for these types of programs.

  4. Greg says

    July 31, 2015 at 10:21 am

    Wherever they place the venue the abbreviated name can stay the same
    Thursday Nights, Oh The Sights! (TNOTS)

  5. Tim Scott says

    July 31, 2015 at 10:07 am

    The solution to having too many people at this event is to produce another event. There are almost two hundred thousand people in Palmdale, and there is nothing much to do. Small wonder too many people show up for TNOTS to manage. Start a Thursday night event at one of the parks to draw off some of the crowd and the square should be fine.

    • MR. PERPLEXED says

      July 31, 2015 at 1:05 pm

      The problem is not the size of the crowd, the problem is about 30 to 40 certain young members of the community who began terrorizing and vandalizing and at the end beating up an attendee and causing a near riot at Thursday Night On The Square! Its so sad to see that because of a few uneducated uncivilized people, the rest of us have to pay for it…

      • Uncle Tom says

        July 31, 2015 at 11:25 pm

        Carefull, a certain know-it-all who frequents this website might think the thugs you are talking about are sheriffs. Wouldn’t want him to make a mistake like that now would we.

        Really though, who are these thugs..do they belong to a certain group we can lump them in with? I mean if a few of them are bad they must all be bad right? Like all law enforcement right? They must all be bad, right?

        Oh..you mean we can’t just lump in everybody from their same age group? Ethnic group? Social status? Employment status? Job description? Darn, that would make it easier to have scapegoats. Too bad the world doesn’t work that way. Perhaps somebody could point that out when somebody makes that assumption. Wouldn’t want idiocy like that to spread.

  6. david says

    July 31, 2015 at 1:29 am

    I just moved here, not Palmdale, to be exact in Hi Vista (north of Lake L.A. / South of Edwards), anyway my question is: what is TNOTS?

    • geez says

      July 31, 2015 at 3:07 am

      Its a badly named event – should have been S.N.O.T. (Square Nights On Thursday)

    • Mia. Twatt says

      July 31, 2015 at 4:45 pm

      You live in Palmdale you fool. There is no putting a pretty big Name on it. Like putting a bow on a turd..

      • Daniel says

        August 4, 2015 at 9:48 am

        LOL, How about “Paradise under Thursday Night’s High Desert Stars”.

  7. MR. PERPLEXED says

    July 30, 2015 at 10:02 pm

    This is probably the aftermath of last Thursday’s near riot, after some members of the community began acting like hooligans throwing bottles and rocks at deputy sheriffs.
    Its so sad to see that such a wonderful event on summer nights has to come to an end, because of a few uneducated bunch, prayers to the young man that got beat up that day!

    • Tim Scott says

      July 30, 2015 at 10:10 pm

      By “a few uneducated bunch” I’m guessing you mean the local sheriff’s department that has made themselves so widely hated in the community that we are one tipping point event short of Ferguson.

      • The team says

        July 30, 2015 at 10:41 pm

        Yes! Throwing bottles at the police is deserved! Thanks police for ruining tnots by making the community throw bottles at you! They’re lacsd not even lasd!

      • Not_a_hoodrat/Ratchet_Beast! says

        July 31, 2015 at 4:33 am

        “widely hated” by whom? little thugs up to no good?….yeah, probably!

        Other than that, we — the greater community — love and respect our sheriffs!

        It’s funny, we never had problems like this and “hate” for the sheriff until about 2005 when the invasion of the hoodrats began! …but sure, keep acting like the hoodrat/ratchet spokesperson you apparently are!

        • Quigley says

          July 31, 2015 at 10:54 am

          @Not….you are right on!

        • Tim Scott says

          July 31, 2015 at 11:40 am

          Keep fooling yourself. Get outside their immediate families and leg riders and cops are AT BEST seen as a necessary evil. So when they go systemically bad, as the local sheriff’s department has, they arrive at widely hated very quickly.

          I’ve been reminding people in every business I frequent for years that they have the right to refuse service, so if cops come in they can tell them to beat it. The number of fast food places where I’ve been told “the manager would never let us do that, but we always spit in their food” is hilarious, and sort of puts that “love and respect” onto mighty shaky ground.

          • Quigley says

            July 31, 2015 at 7:32 pm

            @Tim….how bout you share your story? Why such hatred for law enforcement? Did you get caught with your hand in someone’s cookie jar?

        • Randy says

          July 31, 2015 at 7:15 pm

          I agree the only ones who hate the Sheriff department are the ones breaking the law. I’ve lived here since 1978 and never had a problem. But with the invasion of section 8 it has become a haven for crime. I have a friend who is with the Social Services department in LA and she told me after the housing crash they actually recommended that people getting section 8 go to the Antelope Valley to rent. The people of today don’t respect anyone or their property. I know some families need section 8 but several don’t and cheat to be on it. These are the ones who are the trouble makers. My neighbor stopped renting to Section 8 after the last two families completely trashed the house and not paying their $175 monthly share.

          • THATS A LIE says

            July 31, 2015 at 9:44 pm

            You haven’t been black you mean living out here! I work hard since I moved out here in 2006 from San Diego and as far as the Sheriff’s Department a few years ago in a building I lived where they did raids because a cop got shot and I didn’t have anything to do with, I have to come out the house with the rest of the tenants in drawers early morning while getting my house tore up for nothing, to find nothing! But oh yeah not to mention the racist things that were said, must I go on! But let me calm down because you don’t know what it’s like..in the end Palmdale ended shelling out almost a million for the circus acts! Since then I thought they cleaned up.

          • Tim Scott says

            July 31, 2015 at 10:05 pm

            Randy and Quigley…

            The way you automatically assume I’m a criminal because I speak out against the sheriff’s department is a big part of the road to fascism that we should all worry about. In a totalitarian state no one dares question the cops, because they will then disappear.

            Our sheriff’s department has been investigated, repeatedly, by federal agencies, and those investigations found the same things I say. Are the federal law enforcement personnel criminals too?

            Open your eyes and your minds. Assuming that someone is a criminal just because the cops say so is NOT how our justice system is supposed to work. They are supposed to have to PROVE it. And “oh he doesn’t like us so he must be a criminal” is actually not even in the vague direction of proof.

          • The Team says

            August 2, 2015 at 11:01 am

            Right on Tim! So sick of these fascist name-callers! Fascists!

      • ben says

        July 31, 2015 at 1:25 pm

        It’s because East Palmdale is now filled with with bunch of GHETTO ASS people that are raised like animals and don’t know how to act and West Palmdale is still half decent.

        • Tony says

          July 31, 2015 at 6:22 pm

          Yes Ben,
          It is exactly that, and now Tim is saying that “we are one tipping point event short of Ferguson”?
          YES, of course we are! the crime will only increase, exactly as happened in Ferguson, WHY? because bad guys are winning and good guys are losing and it’s all thanks to people like Tim that defends the criminals and condemn the Sheriff, so it will get to the point that the Sheriff will not answer some emergency calls and let the criminals do their business because they will be afraid of people taking them to court for “abuse of power”
          C’mon man, let the Sheriffs do their job and hunt all those criminals, of course there are some innocent casualties I dont argue this, but 99.9 % of the time cops are right.

          • Tim Scott says

            July 31, 2015 at 7:05 pm

            You probably don’t realize it, but this statement runs totally opposite to the principles this country was founded on. “Let the cops hunt” is probably the most disgusting idea I have seen this month.

            Our crime rate, which is just ordinary, has nothing to do with the level of tension between the cops and the community, just like it had nothing to do with the tension in Ferguson. A police department with an established pattern of preying on the citizens, which is the findings of federal investigations in both Ferguson AND the AV, is what has brought us to this point.

            You are as ridiculous as the mayor of Ferguson, who stood on national television giving an interview with a RIOT in the background and said “Oh, no, we have no racial tensions here.” You want to defend the actions of the sheriff’s department in the face of all evidence for some reason that I can’t fathom, but hopefully we will get them fixed despite you.

          • Tony says

            August 1, 2015 at 12:46 pm

            I’ll be sitting down Tim, waiting for the day that you “fix them despite me”
            I hope you find the right law enforcement that will work exactly the way you want. (Which is; easy on criminals, please don’t hurt them, treat them like if they are just coming out of church, stop police brutality and let the criminals do their business)
            Way to go body, your “ordinary crime rate” is the best! why bother.

          • Tim Scott says

            August 1, 2015 at 12:53 pm

            Tony it would be better if you actually were sitting and waiting instead of actively promoting fascism. Your unsupportable comments like “99.9% of the time cops are right” (so why do the feds regularly find them to be in the wrong?) and your ridiculous fearmongering about crime rates that are nothing out of the ordinary (I don’t “like” crime, but it is actually just a part of life, much like thunderstorms and earthquakes) don’t help anyone or anything.

        • Daniel says

          August 4, 2015 at 9:44 am

          That’s pretty much a true statement ben but fortunately, not all true. I have seen many decent people on the east side and they are of all color, race and creed. You shouldn’t generalize.

  8. Anonymous says

    July 30, 2015 at 9:59 pm

    I heard there are problems at night time.

    • Anonymous says

      July 31, 2015 at 7:16 pm

      Problems on the BLVD. Smash and grab crime at Pharmacy, panhandling, bangers, drunks. TNOTS is Disneyland compared the the BS going down on the BLVD and it’s back alleys.

      • Tim says

        July 31, 2015 at 8:54 pm

        The BLVD us relatively safe in the day, but there’s no real reason to go there. It’s not a good place to be at night.

      • Daniel says

        August 4, 2015 at 9:52 am

        It feels like there’s panhandlers 24/7 out here in the whole High Desert. Sometimes I just get so tired of it. Can’t go to any retailer without being bummed for money. Not everyone has it to give away.

  9. Jo says

    July 30, 2015 at 6:06 pm

    Planning for the future was not a consideration? Did they not want participation? Of course this huge growth was going to take place, why wasn’t this part of the planning stage? So sad the public suffers “again” do our elected officials poor planning. They had such a great idea that took off faster then they anticipated, sad to have to stop now.

    • J. Ripper says

      July 31, 2015 at 5:38 am

      Oh, shut up. If you’re not involved in the planning, you have no right to spout off your big mouth criticizing anyone who is. Small, new things start off small and you adjust when they grow bigger.

      • William says

        July 31, 2015 at 11:23 am

        Thanks, J. Ripper. You beat me to it. TNOTS was created as a new venture and was cursed with being more successful than anticipated. What a terrible thing to have happen.

        I’ll bet that Jo is the type that would also have whined if the City of Palmdale had spent her ‘hard earned tax dollars’ on a larger venue from the beginning to accomadate anticipated future growth. We all know that type. You can never win with them.

  10. Elida Ramirez says

    July 30, 2015 at 2:22 pm

    Whats going to happen? where is t going to be moved to?
    I have been going to TNOTS FOR EVER! I love to take my kids and grandkids there.

    • Jay says

      July 30, 2015 at 7:18 pm

      Probably the westside… Since tha is where most city employees live

      • Anonymous says

        July 30, 2015 at 10:01 pm

        Maybe but not because of the employees. Marie Kerr is set up for it. Oasis likely couldn’t do it. They could very well choose another park with more room.

      • Gowchong says

        July 31, 2015 at 7:09 am

        Marie Kerr is my bet. Plenty of parking, a larger stage for entertaining and plenty of space for vendors.
        They’ll have to change the name. Maybe TNAK. Thursday Night At the Kerr?

        • mr palmdale says

          August 1, 2015 at 5:57 pm

          Now this is it what a great idea

          • Vanessa says

            August 1, 2015 at 6:43 pm

            That is True mr palmdale but the city of palmdale should build us a brand new facility that we all can go to. a facility like Lancasters Boulevard walk Palmdale need s A place like that .

            Soo palmdale if you are ready fot us Just build it and we will come back on thursday nights.

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