Fun, fun, fun: The Beach Boys close out Elk Grove 2021 concert series

This story has been updated to state the crowd size was 20,000, according to Elk Grove Mayor Craig Johnson.

It won't be long till summer time is through.

But a crowd of some 20,000 - according to event organizers - came to Elk Grove Village Tuesday night to hear the legendary Beach Boys play, reminding everyone they've been having fun all summer long.

The band, led by co-founder Mike Love, who has rights to the group name, performed many of its 1960s California surf rock classics during a two-hour free show next to village hall and the library. It was the last of four weekly July concerts in this year's Mid-Summer Classics Concert Series, which was delayed a year by the pandemic.

Some concertgoers arrived Tuesday morning to stake down a spot with lawn chairs in anticipation of the big crowd.

Mayor Craig Johnson said Wednesday the estimated attendance of 20,000 was the largest ever in the 12-year history of the local concert series. Up until now, the biggest crowd was 17,000 who saw Air Supply in 2015.

An earlier village estimate of 40,000 was reported Tuesday night.

Johnson initially grabbed headlines in March when he insisted the shows would go on this year, and then in April he added that the village wouldn't require masks or impose other restrictions amid improving COVID-19 metrics.