Summer at the Plaza concerts announced

ALBANY — New York State Office of General Services announced its annual Summer at the Plaza concert series Wednesday, June 1.

All shows take place at the Empire State Plaza’s outdoor concourse. People will be able to sit on the New York State Museum’s Grand Staircase, as construction recently concluded on the two-year project to re-waterproof the granite steps.

Among the highlights are the annual Fourth of July celebration, Kids Day (July 9), the Black Arts and Cultural Festival (Aug, 6), the New York State Food Festival (Aug. 10) and the Hispanic Heritage Celebration (Sept. 10).

The Boogie Wonder Band headlines this year’s Fourth of July celebration at the Plaza. The neo funk band captures the sounds of the 1970s disco era.

Kids Day includes face painting, bounce rides, puppet shows, arts and crafts, live music and more. This year’s featured act is Choo Choo Soul, which will be performing a number of popular songs from Disney movies.

Grammy Award-winning Sounds of Blackness is the featured group for this year’s Black Arts and Cultural Festival (formerly known as the African American Family Day). There will also be performances by the Jubilee Gospel Community Choir, Wassa Pan Afrika dance, the Scholastic Talent Showcase winners and a Def Poetry Jam reunion featuring Danny Simmons.

Legendary R&B group The Commodores headlines this year’s New York State Food Festival. The band is known for such songs as “Brick House,” “Easy” and “Three Times a Lady.”

Salsa singer Michael Stuart leads the list of artists performing at the Hispanic Heritage Celebration. The one-time Latin Grammy Award nominee is the son of bandleader Israel “Timbalero” Stuart. DJ Boy Boy, Luis Damon and Judy Torres are also performing.

The Capital Concert Series takes place on a series of Wednesday evenings at the Empire State Plaza. Each show begins at 5 p.m. They are:

June 15 — Jazz Night featuring Rachelle Ferrell and Cyrus Chestnut

June 29 — Legendary Sons Night featuring Shooter Jennings and Devon Allman

July 6 — Reggae Night featuring Beres Hammond

July 13 — Classic Rock Night featuring Blood, Sweat and Tears (featuring Bo Bice and Dylan Elise)

July 20 — Rhythm & Blues Night featuring Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears

In addition, OGS announced its Capitol Park After Dark movie series schedule. The three movies on this year’s list are “Big Hero 6” (Aug. 17), “Gaslight” (Aug. 24) and “The Wizard of Oz” (Aug. 31). All movies begin at 8 p.m.

For more information about these free events, call 474-4759 or visit www.empirestateplaza.org.