Support Salsa by the Lake to Grow & Thrive

Salsa by the Lake is back! And ready to grow and thrive. Ooooh...it must be springtime in Oakland....

After 19 years of dancing in community, Salsa by the Lake (SBTL) is raising funds together to cover the costs of a multi-event permit from the City of Oakland for twelve events this year at our new location. We are raising funds to cover permit costs, and pay some dance teachers, DJs, and artists, as well as cover the costs of some photography and videography.

If everyone who loves Salsa by the Lake gave just $5 each, we could raise the funds we need to do all of this and more. And I know we can do it. Seven years ago, in 2017, the last time we raised funds as a community, we raised $3K in three days to replace our stolen equipment.

Here's the cost breakdown for this fundraiser:

12 City Permits at $560/event =~ $7,000.00

(First three of this year cost $347.90, $559.90, and $559.90, with the differences being fee waivers the first time.)

Professional, community-based photography and videography = $1,500; $300 incurred to date but that's with free community content that I think deserves a pro tip. (And there's so much more we can do here and at pro rates, we're talking even more of a budget of course.)

Non-profit status administrative fee through local partner organization = $500-$1,000 (5% probably of whatever our budget is. We are non-profit in the truest sense - this is just a passion project, and we don't want to create our own non-profit when there are already so many and we don't feel like we're at that stage, so we're thinking to leverage local one from the community.)

If everyone in the Salsa by the Lake group donated just $1/year for every year you've enjoyed SBTL, we could more than cover the costs for this year.

Thank you in advance for supporting and spreading the word about our efforts and special community.

By the way, in case you are not familiar with our history, let us share:

Salsa by the Lake began in 2007 when I, Isaac Kos-Read, and my life partner Mary Massella had just gotten back from a dance trip overseas. It was spring on Lake Merritt, just like now, where we live, and I looked out the window and thought, "Why do we always go elsewhere to do what we most love? We have a malecon right here in Oakland! Let's go dance salsa by the Lake."

Mary and I had always loved dancing outdoors, so we grabbed our boombox, filled it up with D batteries, grabbed our CD folders, emailed some friends, and started walking toward the Lake. We settled on the Pergola has the ideal place - some shade, a nice dance floor, and plenty of space for people to pass by, stop and watch, or whatever. There we thrived for 13 years. Then the pandemic hit.

With the pandemic, came many changes. After a pause, new outside dancing opportunities began to spring up. The Pergola, and the Lake more broadly, got a little beat up, overused, even trashed at times, and out of balance with its surrounding environment and neighborhood.

But the community kept asking: "When is Salsa by the Lake coming back?" There's something special about it. The serendipity. The familial vibe. The diversity. The music.

We sought out a new place. A new dance home. And we found it. The Edoff Memorial Bandstand, aka Lake Merritt Bandstand.

Back when we first started in 2007, it seemed too grandiose for us. It was also a much farther walk from our house! :-) But now that we have to drive anyway to transport the gear, and now that our community is so big, it's perfect. And that floor!

The first two dance events of this year convinced us that this is the new home for Salsa by the Lake, and we couldn't be happier.

So now it is time to breathe new life into this passion project and steward it forward for the next generation. To grow it and put it on a path to long-term sustainability. We are therefore also looking for volunteers and others to help with things like social media, website, logistics, etc. Thank you for reading, sharing, and supporting.