Though it may not entitle you to a day off of school, Record Store Day was certainly celebrated downtown at Going Underground Records. People waited outside for the business to open to have the chance to thumb through a collection of selected dollar-priced records.

Record Store Day was Saturday, April 21. According to Ronald Ramirez, the owner of Going Underground Records, Record Store Day is, “an event celebrating record stores and the act of buying records and trying to support your local record store instead of buying stuff online or buying digital and iTunes.

“It is an event to get people stoked to buy records, and people who usually don’t buy records.”

Crates of records selected by Ramirez were offered outside of the store for a dollar until 1 p.m. when the prices were lowered to 50 cents and then 25 cents after 3 p.m.

All of the records were selections that Ramirez had multiples of or that he thought people “would really enjoy.”

The event had a series of DJs who played their choice of records throughout the day. According to one of the DJs, Jordan Aguirre, “Ronald just invited us down here when we were shopping for records earlier in the week and asked us to spin some records.”

Aguirre was enthusiastic about the day’s musical accompaniment saying, “Everyone’s playing some really hot jams.”

Disappointed about how many record stores Bakersfield has lost, Aguirre was thankful to Ramirez for what his store does for the downtown scene.

“Ronald’s been going strong for quite some time and we’re grateful for that,” he said. “He’s got a selection for everybody and we’re also grateful for that.”

Jeff Pedro was one customer who was new to Record Store Day, but glad to have found out about it.

“I got paid, and I got records,” said Pedro, “I found plenty of old school hip-hop. That’s what I do.”

Pedro found out about Record Store Day through his daughter who was accompanying him on his record hunt, and she found out about the event through Facebook.

One of the employees who helped the store out with the day was Adam Schwartz, who has been working at Going Underground Records on-and-off for years now.

“It’s been awesome,” said Schwartz. “This is the biggest one yet. It has been pretty busy. There were people here waiting for us to open. Each year it’s gotten bigger.”

Schwartz attributes the growth each year to increased publicity and the spread of the news on social networking sites.

Some people were just spending time at the store enjoying the atmosphere.

A person like Langdon Alder who has been coming to Going Underground Records since they opened at the current downtown location was enjoying his second Record Store Day.

According to Alder, “Albeit it’s a scorcher, the vibes are really positive,” said Alder. “I feel a definite welcoming of summer today.”