Some people will tote gourmet entrees, fine...

Some people will tote gourmet entrees, fine china and silverware. Still others will pack in basic American hot dogs. But whatever they choose for their picnic suppers, several hundred are expected to pack the Malaga Cove Library park on Wednesday for the summer’s first free outdoor concert.

“It’s a Hollywood Bowl concept,” says Nancy Mahr, spokeswoman for the Palos Verdes Library District, which sponsors the six-concert series in Palos Verdes Estates along with the Friends of the Library. There’s music every Wednesday through Aug. 14.

Picnicking starts at 6 p.m., and the hour-long concert gets under way at 7. For children who would rather see Disney movies than listen to music, films are shown inside the library.

Latin rhythms will fill the park during the opening concert, with two South Bay musicians who call themselves Out of the Blue. The group features John Dietz on sax and flute and Richard Schwagerl playing keyboard, vibraphone and percussion.

Mahr said the concerts tend to attract an audience of “people between the ages of 30 and 80.” The library strives for varied musical fare performed by professional South Bay musicians.

The program July 17 will feature the fourth consecutive appearance of jazz guitarist Dan O’Sullivan--who grew up on the peninsula--and his trio. Others in the summer lineup are violinist James Sitterly, who appears July 24; the Dietz Brothers, who mingle several musical styles, on July 31; the Flight of Fancy woodwind trio on Aug. 7, and, on Aug. 14, flute and string players from the South Bay Conservatory faculty.

“The park slopes downward and musicians perform in front of the fountain at the base of the park,” Mahr said. “People who get there early spread blankets on the grass. Some of the others have to stand.”

And people aren’t the only concert-goers. The peninsula’s famous peacocks usually attend, strutting back and forth on the library roof. Mahr says they’re polite enough not to squawk.