A midweek 4th of July celebration isn’t stopping people from visiting the Central Coast.
Independence Day falls in the middle of the week this year and some locals say it seems a bit quiet locally but visitors say they’ve made it work with their busy schedules.
"For our visitors and travelers, it’s a dilemma. Do you come beginning of the week or do you come the second part of the week?" said Danna Stroud, executive director of Travel Paso.
Some have the luxury of vacationing the whole week.
"When you are coming from Michigan to California taking a week off, you don’t really have to bend my arm too much," said Cody Peterman, a Michigan resident.
Others are taking only a few days. Pam Franklin says she is celebrating earlier to avoid crowds while biking.
"I thought it was going to be more quiet and we would be able to be on the roads where it wasn’t so crazy when we ride," said Franklin, who’s visiting from Pasadena.
Travel Paso says hotels were filling up as the holiday neared.
"We see our visitors arriving for the holiday and then we start to ramp up for the rest of the weekend. So starting Thursday or Friday, a few more people coming into town and we really see it ramp up as a good summer weekend for us," explains Stroud, who expects the upcoming weekend to be packed.
AAA says people will be driving in record numbers.
Steve Cass is co-chair of Paso Pops, now at a new location: the Paso Robles Event Center. He was worried about a low turnout on Wednesday but says sales are still sparking.
"We decided to roll the dice a little bit but ticket sales as of this moment compared to this exact same moment last year are several hundred ahead of last year with another day, plus this year we are going to sell tickets the day of the event," said Cass, who adds those attending the patriotic concert and firework show are in for a surprise.
Kids get in free, tickets for students, seniors and servicemembers are $10-dollars and general admission is 20. Tickets are available here.
