Bernalillo County’s Evening in Paradise draws families to Paradise Hills Park

Paradise Hills Park became a free summer gathering place for northwest Albuquerque families Saturday as Bernalillo County’s Evening in Paradise packed live music, dance, games and food into a four-hour stretch. The event ran from 4 to 8 p.m. at 5801 Paradise Blvd. NW, then rolled straight into Movies in the Park with an 8 p.m. screening of the animated film Goat. For westside residents, it offered an easy night out without the cost of tickets, parking or a long drive across town.

The county framed the celebration as more than entertainment. Bernalillo County Commissioner Walt Benson was listed as the host and invited residents to attend the 2026 event, underscoring the county’s push to bring programming directly into neighborhoods rather than center it downtown. That local focus mattered in a part of Albuquerque where families often weigh the price of summer outings before deciding how to spend an evening.

Turnout has given the event weight inside county planning. County materials say Evening in Paradise has drawn thousands of people in past years, and attendance topped 2,500 last year. That kind of crowd turns a park event into a community fixture, especially in the early summer when families are looking for low-cost ways to gather close to home.

The setup also showed how Bernalillo County uses public space as part of a larger service strategy. Alongside live music and dance performances, the celebration included arts and crafts vendors, face painting, a zipline, food offerings and a beer garden. County vendor applications for the event listed craft, artisan, mobile food, pre-packaged food and business or service categories, with a May 6 deadline and requirements for health, business and fire permits as well as insurance documentation for food vendors. The paperwork reflects a festival organized at the scale of a major county event, not a one-off park picnic.

Evening in Paradise was also tied to a broader summer schedule. Bernalillo County’s Movies in the Park series runs from June 5 to July 31 and includes seven screenings across parks in the county and city. By pairing a signature neighborhood celebration with an evening movie under the sky, the county extended the event into a full night of family entertainment.

The event is not new to Paradise Hills Park either. County promotions show Evening in Paradise was held in 2023 and 2024 at the same westside park, reinforcing it as a recurring summer ritual. With planned capital improvements linked to the Paradise Hills Community Center, the park and nearby streets and pedestrian facilities, the county appears to be investing not just in one evening of entertainment, but in a longer-term effort to activate public space and strengthen neighborhood life in northwest Albuquerque.