The Bakersfield Museum of Art (BMoA) hosted its monthly Art After Dark event Thursday, Aug. 30 in the Sculpture Garden. Museum members were granted early access to the event at 6:30 p.m. Doors opened thirty minutes later for general admission and the concert began the following hour.

Rachel Magnus, BMoA Curator, explained purpose of the event. She said that from February to October this year, BMoA offers this monthly, “after-hours art experience” to bring guests of all ages together to eat, drink, mingle, and appreciate the art located throughout the venue.

During the event, guests were encouraged to go inside the museum to view the exhibit “Charles Arnoldi: Forms, A 50 Year Survey,” which is a collection of artworks done throughout five decades of artist Charles Arnoldi’s career.

Food trucks from all over the city came to cater the crowd of over 250, offering wood-fired Italian street food from Milan’s Market, vegan soul-food from We Be Grubbin’, and tropical cocktails from Tiki-Ko.

“It’s my third time here, and I love coming,” said attendee Dennise Aleman. “I love the food since it’s usually things I’ve never tried before. I got the Sloppy Josephine from We Be Grubbin’, and it’s so good that I made my husband get another one.”

Special to this month’s event, Sugar Candy Mountain performed at this year’s summer concert in the BMoA Sculpture Garden’s featured artist. The band performed songs from their old album “666” and new ones off of their recently released album “Do Right.”

Many guests arrived early to the event and came prepared with blankets and lawns chairs to get a close spot on the grass to see the show. At the end of the set, the band brought people to their feet when they performed an encore of “Windows,” their most popular song.

At the end of the event, Magnus expressed her gratitude and excitement to see plenty of new faces at the event. She also promoted upcoming BMoA events and programs. Next month, the museum is pairing with California State University, Bakersfield, and their English department to showcase poems inspired about pieces displayed in the exhibition spaces.

In October, BMoA will also be hosting its annual Surrealist Masquerade in the Sculpture Garden on Oct. 27 from 7-9 p.m.

“The Garden will be transformed into a Surrealist, trippy, creepy experience,” said Magnus. “Last year we had a lot of enthusiasm with the costumes and the inspiration that people found in what we had on display and also the Surrealist artists of the past.”