Free concerts echoed through Downtown San Marcos this year as the city celebrated its third Make Music Day on June 21.
Make Music Day, or Fête de la Musique, is a holiday started by France’s Ministry of Culture in 1982. Its purpose is to fill cities with free concerts for everyone by anyone every year on the summer solstice. In recent years, it has made its way across the Atlantic Ocean and into local musical communities around the country like San Marcos.
Steve Anderson, Destination Services Coordinator at Visit San Marcos, the city’s Convention and Visitor Bureau, for eight years. He manages the city’s music promotion on their website and social media through a directory of local venues and performances called Listen San Marcos.
The program is a partnership with the Texas Music Office, a branch of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development and Tourism that focuses on promoting “musical businesses, musicians and communities by strengthening the state’s music industry and fostering economic development through music,” according to their website.
“We have our own website and social media that share where you can find live music any day of the week,” Anderson said. “We also hold music meetups, networking events, as well as educational events for musicians and businesses throughout the year.” Anderson said.
At an annual conference for the Texas Music Office about four years ago, Anderson learned about Make Music Day, and began working with his team to host it for the first time in 2024. This year there were 33 performances at six different venues including Embassy Suites, The San Market, The Porch, The Parlor, Wineaux and the San Marcos Art Center.
“It’s good for everyone who participates,” said Anderson. “We just want to see it grow because in France and other places who have done it a lot longer, it really is a big citywide celebration of music, and you can’t really escape it.”
David Rosenblad is a Texan musician who moved to San Marcos in 2025. He has a home studio where he plays piano and guitar, produces for himself and other artists, and works on film scores and sound design.
According to Rosenblad, his connection to the San Marcos music and art scene is growing, allowing him to perform at local venues like the farmers’ market, Wake the Dead Coffeehouse and Wineaux.
“I keep meeting more and more people,” Rosenblad said. “I just kind of walk into a place. ‘Hey do you have live music?’”
This was his second year doing Make Music Day. He signed up as soon as he got the email and ended up performing five times throughout the day.
“I’m exhausted,” said Rosenblad. “Because this is my fifth gig today, if you count my earlier one at the Holiday Inn Express. Then I jumped across the street to Embassy Suites, and they had a full stage setup with lights and sound.”
Rosenblad was also celebrating Make Music Day online, with the organization’s hashtag, #MySongIsYourSong, where musicians on social media play each other’s songs. He did an international song swap with a band from Melbourne, Australia called Aqua Strangers.
“I was really intrigued by covering someone else’s song, putting it on a video, and having them do the same for one of mine,” said Rosenblad. “It was just a really good communication, and we need that. Music is the healing elixir of the universe.”
Max Rouch is a musician and visual artist from Central Texas and plays drums and vocals in a band called Bicurious George, that performed at the Porch for Make Music Day.
“The San Marcos art scene and music scene are super important in bringing people together,” Rouch said. “I’ve loved getting to network and connect with all the other venues and musicians and people who come to the shows. It’s a very community-oriented thing that is especially important for San Marcos.”
Bicurious George was reached out to by AndBops, friends of Rouch’s and coordinators of community music events, who organized the Make Music Day event with the Porch and Mango Beat, an agency that coordinates Latin live music events.
“This is a very accessible, community-oriented event.” Rouch said. “I hope that we have some synergy happening of the different fan bases and artists coming together, meeting each other, forming community.”
Anderson said that the most challenging part of coordinating Make Music Day is advertising to the community. He said he noticed that there are typically more musicians who want to get involved every year than anyone else.
“Some people were just playing for family and friends,” said Anderson. “But they were playing for them through big speakers in a courtyard at an apartment complex and things like that are different from just playing in your living room at home.”
Since last year’s Make Music Day fell on a Saturday with the farmers’ market and Bubble Bash, the turnout was different, according to Anderson. Downtown San Marcos was full of families and music lovers.
“If it happens to fall on a day where there’s a lot of other stuff going on in the community, it helps out a lot,” said Anderson. “This one was a little more of a struggle, but I went around to everything and everywhere seemed to have some people. It wasn’t bad for a Sunday.”
Since it is early in San Marcos’ Make Music career, Anderson has plans for it to grow. These plans include holding an in-person workshop a few months ahead to explain the purpose and process of the event and having people who have participated in the past to speak about it and how it affects their businesses and musical careers.
“I think San Marcos as a whole has a very vibrant music community and there’s live music every night of the week and that’s great,” Anderson said. “I think the spirit of Make Music Day is for everybody and anybody to come out and experience music.”
