The 18th Annual Lemon Festival is the Sweetest Sour Event of the Year
Let the Third Avenue Village Association get you in the summer spirit at the 2014 Lemon Festival on Sunday, August 3. This free, family-friendly event takes place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Third Avenue from E to G Street.
Commemorating Chula Vista’s juicy history as the Lemon Capital of the World, the Lemon Festival packs more fun than the prosperous Chula Vista lemon packing plants of the 1920s.
Chula Vista’s largest and longest running event is squeezing an eclectic lineup of bands on two stages, including Kanan Road, Chickenbone Slim and the Biscuits, Mango Bay and more. The return of the infamous Lemon Pie Eating Contest will feature Marie Callender’s classic lemon meringue pies. Have a lemon tree at home? Haul in the cream of your lemon crop for the Largest Lemon Contest. Compete for prizes, glory and the ultimate bragging rights.
The young and the young at heart will pour into The Kid’s Corner at Third Avenue & E Street which bursts with giant inflatable rides, game booths, clowns and face painting. Keep your eyes peeled for the Lemon Festival mascot, none other than a giant lemon, who will be roaming the event, posing for pictures and handing out festival information.
Newly renovated Third Avenue Village will be brimming with over 200 vendors offering exotic foods, unique handmade items, lemon goods and community information to the event’s 20,000 attendees, while Third Avenue’s diverse mix of shops, services and watering holes are sure to appeal to new and returning visitors. Making the day even juicier, several Third Avenue merchants will be offering lemon-themed specials and discounts to festival-goers.
Head to Third Avenue Village on Sunday, August 3 to experience everything lemon at the 18th annual Lemon Festival.
Playwrights Project will present a short play about border life
Professional actors will perform a reading of a short script, Crown Prince, written by Escondido teenager Alberto Cordova. In the play, an indecisive teenage boy battles with inner voices and outer influences in order to make the most important decision of his life. How can he decide to be an American adult, when everyone treats him like a Mexican child?
Alberto wrote his script with support from Playwrights Project writing mentors Erika Phillips and James Pillar, whom he met while working on Excavating Escondido, a project of La Jolla Playhouse with the California Center for the Arts. Phillips and Pillar, who also work as teaching artists for Playwrights Project, pitched Alberto’s play to Playwrights Project as part of their Border Lines / Lineas de Frontera program, which seeks to voice the stories of those living along the U.S./Mexico border.
The cast includes: Francisco Brambila, Veronica Burgess, Monique Gaffney, Fred Harlow, Derek Livingston, and John Lopez.
More than painted sculptures, the Chicken Parade brings a community together.
The San Marcos Arts Council Chicken Parade has already done more to build community than one would have expected painted sculptures to do. The Chicken Parade kicked off in July with 28 local businesses exhibiting one-of-a-kind chicken sculptures.
This citywide exhibition is building a supportive community around the arts, local businesses and the incredibly talented artists who created the chicken sculptures. Such local artists include, Christopher Polentz, Krista Timberlake, Kent Campbell, Juli Veee and Roni Draves.
As SMAC Board Member, Craig Garcia shared last week when delivering the chickens to their respective sponsors, “…the businesses are reporting a boost in staff morale just by being part of the Parade. [Me] and my family will be out at around town taking photos with each chicken, you can be sure of that!” Charity Wings volunteer, Aisa Diaz confirmed that she and a “group of her girlfriends” will be navigating their way around town in the next couple weeks to visit each business as well.
SMAC would like to encourage everyone to visit each chicken of the 2014 Chicken Parade, now through September 30, 2014 to take part in the free Photo Contests and Scavenger Hunt. For a map to the Parade along with contest rules, visit www.sanmarcosartscouncil.com.