Friends of Mt. Tabor Park credits Anka Sepulveda for keeping the Mt. Tabor summer concert alive. When she joined the FMTP board in 2021, she learned the ropes, working closely with Portland Parks & Recreation, which handled the heavy lifting: security, sound, staging, permits. She focused on the extras like bike parking, face painting, the baby goats.

In 2026, however, Parks stepped back entirely, and Anka rebuilt the concert from the ground up, largely on her own. She generated new partnerships raising the funds, lining up musicians, arranging equipment, securing permits, and coordinating every moving piece on the day of the show. With help from FMTP members, she recruited scores of volunteers and lined up community and individual sponsors to fill the gap Parks left behind. Thanks to Anka, the July 9 event was a huge success, attracting over 1,200 people of all ages.

A 25-year Montavilla resident, Anka has also been a Weed Warriors crew leader for a decade. She sees the concert as an extension of that work. "It's a cool way to share the work of volunteers in the park with over a thousand people I might not otherwise reach," she says. "It's a chance to talk up programs like Weed Warriors and the Urban Nature Series." Bringing back a full concert series "is going to take more than a village," she says. "But everybody wants this!"

We're grateful to have Anka's energy and persistence behind Mt. Tabor Park's summer concert, and are thrilled to name her a well-deserved Friend of the Year.