For Jack, it's big-band music from the '40s that still gets couples of all ages up to dance. Harriet prefers to sing along with '50s rock & roll hits like Bill Haley and the Comets' "Rock Around the Clock."

For four years, for nine consecutive weeks during the summer, from July to the beginning of September, the series "Music and Market" has brought craftspeople, local businesses and musicians downtown on Wednesday evenings.

But after four successful years, city budget cuts threatened to end the series.

The city of Sunnyvale and the Sunnyvale Downtown Association have worked together to present the summer program, but after the city cut its share of the funding, the future of this blossoming Sunnyvale tradition was in jeopardy.

In response to the budget cut, Downtown Association President Joe Antuzzi sent a letter to Mayor John Howe, requesting funds or service donations to continue the event. At its May 11 meeting, the city council voted unanimously to allocate $4,500—nearly half the cost of the event—from the city's fiscal uncertainties fund to the Downtown Association.

Howe said he asked Antuzzi to send the letter so the council could formally act on it because he knew it was an important issue for the city.

"It's come up a number of times at community meetings that the downtown summer series is something people want," Howe said. "Forty-five hundred dollars is not a lot of money out of the budget, especially since it builds community and gives a sense of identity."

Jack Rowe said that sense of identity and community may do more for Sunnyvale than just brightening faces.

"I think it is most valuable for any city to enhance the residents' cultural exposure through concerts, plays and other activities," Rowe said.

"It's become a tradition in downtown Sunnyvale during the summer," Antuzzi said. "It gives the community a chance to get out and see how beautiful the city really is."

Beyond that, by helping fund the event, the city of Sunnyvale is indirectly investing in its own financial future.

"For merchants, [the series] introduces and attracts additional business of both local and nearby customers. To residents, it brings pride of living and shopping here rather than somewhere else," Jack Rowe said. "These are all asset values to Sunnyvale."

Antuzzi said that when the nine-week series was first held five years ago, the city did not charge for the series' public-works costs, including the closure of S. Murphy Avenue and partial closure of Washington Avenue and the additional street cleaning needed after the event.

In the series' third year, however, the city began charging the association approximately $1,000 a night for public-works and public-safety assistance during the event. But for two years that fee was covered by a city-awarded grant for nonprofit group events. That grant dried up during last year's budget cuts, and Antuzzi and the Downtown Association were left to look for other sponsors to continue the series.

Antuzzi said the Downtown Association has saved up a small pot of money that could be used to completely fund one year of the event, but after that, the association would not be able to continue it. Outside donations and sponsors allow the association to keep the event alive while saving for future needs.

As long as the series continues, Harriet Rowe said, she looks forward to attending, both for the positive effects the series has on Sunnyvale and the "warm, fuzzy feelings" she always comes away with.

"We enjoy the quality entertainment, but we've also enjoyed watching other people enjoying it," Harriet Rowe said. "It's delightful to see people out having a good time."

"Music and Market" begins this year on July 7, 5:30 to 9 p.m., and takes place on Murphy Avenue.