By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

Pick a day, almost any day during the week, and there’s a concert or mini-festival somewhere downtown.

Like Fridays’ Festival Plaza is the place for outdoor concerts beginning at 5 p.m. It’s also the place for Saturday nights, when the Auburn Recreation Department presents a different family movie each week.

L/A Arts stakes out its claim on Tuesdays and Thursdays, offering 16 different noontime concerts throughout the summer. Festival Plaza hosts the shows on Tuesdays and Lewiston’s Courthouse Plaza hosts them on Thursdays.

Wednesday is the day for morning youth concerts and shows in various parks around both cities. The Auburn Community Band continues its traditional concert each Wednesday night at Festival Plaza. That leaves Sunday and Monday.

“You need a day to rest and a day to get back to work,” said Auburn Parks and Recreation Director Pete Bushway.

“It’s summertime and people want to be outside doing things as a family,” Bushway said. “This all gives us an opportunity to do that.”

Auburn’s Festival Fridays began last week. with SoftspokenRadicals. That series continues this week with SuperBad.

“We have such a great space at Festival Plaza, and it’s become a tradition on Fridays,” he said. “People stop by on the way home from work, meet up and continue on to get dinner or go see a movie.”

The Saturday movie series began last week when the Auburn Recreation Department presented “Shark Tales.” It continues at dusk today with “Shrek.” “That’s been another good thing, where we had a really good turnout last year,” Bushway said.

L/A Arts Director Andrew Harris said the Tuesday and Thursday Music in the Parks series is back with a good mix of music, from Franco selections by Boreal Tordu next Tuesday at Festival Plaza to Somali-American music by Jamel Karama at Courthouse Plaza.

“We try to present a really good mix, with some old favorites and some new music,” Harris said.

Lewiston and Auburn parks departments have presented the Wednesday morning programs for the past 26 years. That brings family-oriented performers to parks around the area. It continues next week at Kennedy Park with guitarist Johnny the K.

“That’s very tied in with the local day camps and day cares,” said Auburn Recreation Superintendent Doug Beck. This summer’s line-up includes a bicycle stunt rider, mimes and Mad Science. Auburn Community Band continues to be a huge draw for Wednesday nights, drawing hundreds to Festival Plaza each week.