We didn’t make it to the Carlsbad Street Faire this year, but we know tens of thousands did because we heard the streets of Carlsbadistan were lined with cars, again.
Now in its 34th year, the street fair is, according to the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce, the largest one-day street fair in the nation, boasting more than 100,000 visitors.
“It’s actually so popular that we get calls from out of state from people who’ve been to it before and want to plan their vacation around it,” said Angela Holman, director of communications for the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce, organizers of the event.
Funny thing: we planned our vacation around it, too. But we planned to be gone. Let us know if we missed anything good.
Hard to believe it’s already been six months since the last Carlsbad Street Faire, but don’t kid yourself. Time flies.
On Sunday, May 4, 2008 expect to see the streets of Carlsbadistan shut down so traveling QVC salespeople can clutter our Village with push-up tents filled with junk of all shapes and sizes. Get out early and load up. And don’t forget the beer garden. Because it’s usually the safest place to stand in the whole faire. Plus, in the beer garden you won’t have to worry about tripping over any neon coyote doorstops with macramé tails.
We rolled to the Carlsbad Street Faire this morning with the intention of getting some photos of Carlsbadistan in full effect. But after walking the jam-packed, crowded streets for about 30 minutes surrounded by a mob of strangers (where do these people come from?) we completely lost focus and found ourselves instead struggling against the flow in search of an exit.
Eventually we made it out. Now upon reflection in the peace of our own home, it seems like each year the event becomes a little less “faire” and a little more “swap meet.” Sure, there’s the Kiwanis Club’s pancake breakfast and the Scripps flu shots, but where were all the pan flautists? Then again, maybe our mood was over-influenced by the time change and the overcast skies.
It was a perfect day to stroll the streets of the Village of Carlsbadistan and the largest one-day street faire packed the downtown like never before. It was blue skies and heat all day as throngs of people milled back and forth cruising, shopping, and looking good for their friends and neighbors at the World Famous Carlsbad Village Street Faire.
Carlsbadistan Street Fair visitors got to see a piece of history as the former Santa Fe 3751 steam engine rolled through the Village May 2, 2010 on its way back to Los Angeles.
On May 1, 2009 (two days before the spring Carlsbad Street Fair) the two-month long Carlsbad Art Surf kicks off. What? Art Surf is a public art walk project through the streets of The Village sponsored by the Carlsbad Village Improvment Partnership, according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Wanting to transform vacant storefront windows into something cheerful, Carlsbad Village property owners have invited artists to sign up to create window murals as part of Art Surf, a two-month art walk that kicks off May 1. . . “I think the idea really was, if you drive down a street and you see lots of empty lots or empty windows, you get an impression that it’s not alive, or it’s not worth coming to (visit) again,” said Robin Young, executive director of the Carlsbad Village Business Association.
We’re not so sure that drawing attention to empty storefronts by letting artists paint on the windows in the best idea, but while they’re at it maybe someone could paint the front windows at Ella Grace in the Village Faire Mall. When we walked by this morning they were packing up and shutting down the business.
We’ve just returned from our first Carlsbad City Council Candidates Forum held this morning at 9 AM in the club house of The Lakeshore Garden’s Mobile Home Park on the southwest corner of Poinsettia and Avenida Encinas.
As we mentioned on our Twitter feed our first reaction was horror. But there is more to it than that. First off, it is amazing to us that the candidates actually show up for these meetings. There were maybe 55 people in the audience (most well over 60 years old) and most were residents of the Lakeshore gardens. [click to continue…]
Sorry we didn’t warn everyone about this earlier: this Sunday, November 4, 2007 is the fall Carlsbad Village Street Faire. Not only is it a great reason to stroll the streets of the Village and check out amazing home appliances, clever crafts, and Aztec pan flautists, it’s also the easiest, most painless place to get your annual flu shot. And please do. We don’t want you getting the rest of us sick.
This week is the last chance to check out Carlsbad artist Ted Gallup’s ceramic art display at the Georgina Cole Library in Carlsbad. According to a profile in the San Diego Union Tribune Gallup is a project manager at a health care company, but spends his free time handcrafting ceramics pieces in the studio at Palomar College.
Gallup’s art is not the typical pottery we’ve all seen too much of at street fairs and art walks. His pieces range from architectural to playfully graphic yet each is oddly intriguing and seem to demand closer inspection.
Currently I’m really influenced by industrial structures and architecture,” said Gallup, a Carlsbad resident who made California his home more than 20 years ago. “Not only just the form, but I’m very interested in the surface details and the effects of weather and time on those structures.”
Friday will be the last day to see his art at the Library, however, you can see more of Ted Gallup’s ceramics on his blog at http://tedgallup.blogspot.com/.
Carlsbad’s annual September barrio street fair won’t be happening this year because of Fiesta del Barrio President Ofelia “Ofie” Escobedo’s health issues.
A well-known community leader in the Barrio area for decades, Escobedo has pretty much been the driving force behind the fiesta since its founding in 1991. She said Monday that she has known for months that this year’s event might be canceled.
According to the North County Times, Escobedo has been fighting to recover from throat cancer.
“I’m still under doctor’s care, but I’m much, much better,” she stressed Monday. “I’m on the way to recovery and I’ve already started going back to my committee meetings.”
We wish Ofie the best and look forward to Fiesta del Barrio 2008.
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We didn’t make it to the Carlsbad Street Faire this year, but we know tens of thousands did because we heard the streets of Carlsbadistan were lined with cars, again.
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