Heading to Hillcrest  this weekend?  You and about 75,000 of your closest friends will be vying for prime viewing of the San Diego LGBT Pride Parade, after it steps off from Normal Street and University, and makes its way to the Pride Festival in Balboa Park…

Festivities, food, exhibitors, entertainment & glam!  San Diego Pride’s cultural Festival includes multiple stages of entertainment, more than 80 musicians, bands, comedy and dance performers, 300 participating vendor booths, an Art exhibit, cultural presentations, and great food. Some of this years sponsors include: Cox Communications, Bud Light, Hewlett-Packard, Wells Fargo, Aetna, Hardrock, Vons, GLT & more.

Headliners for the 2010 Pride Festival (Appearing on the Cox Communications Main Stage)

Eve – Saturday, July 17 @  8:00pm
Blake Lewis – Sunday, July 18 @ 4:55pm
Devo – Sunday, July 18 @ 6:00pm

Click Here to Purchase Tickets & avoid the lines!

Early Bird – One Day Ticket = $15
Early Bird – 2 Day Pass = $25
Location: Balboa Park @ 6th and Laurel St

Famous for its inclusive attitude and welcoming character, Hillcrest celebrates the community spirit that has kept it vibrant since the iconic sign was raised in 1940.  Up next is the 26th Annual Hillcrest CityFest.  In 1986, the cherished sign was carefully restored. The ensuing celebration started the tradition of an annual festival that has become a celebration of music, art and community spirit!

On Sunday, August 8th, thousands of  revelers are expected to converge on University along 5th Avenue, as well as Robinson & Pennsylvania. From noon to 8 PM, live music, games & activities, 250 vendors, a beer & spirit  garden, exhibits & more are planned.  Fabulous Hillcrest has something for everyone as the summer heats the streets and San Diego comes to life!

Photo by Hillcrest Business Association

San Diego’s Gaslamp District is a treasure-trove of eateries and night spots, with something for everyone within just sixteen city blocks.  The Gaslamp Quarter Association lists 124 dining venues to choose from…  Where to begin??? This weekend will provide the perfect opportunity to explore the flavors of San Diego’s thriving center, when more than 50 restaurants and bars will open their doors and share delectable samples for the Taste of Gaslamp!

Tickets are still available for $30, sold separately for Saturday and Sunday, June 26 and 27, with more than 30 locations participating each day between 1 and 4 p.m.  The roster of eateries will provide a self-guided tour of Gaslamp’s finest, and you can take them on in any order you please!  Some venues are for adults only, and lines may wear the patience of young ones (if not their older companions), so peruse the list of participants and make your plan of attack!  For one low price, you can find brunch, lunch and dinner in San Diego’s beautiful Victorian National Historic District.  Proceeds from the event will benefit the Gaslamp Quarter Association, the non-profit merchants association of the Gaslamp Quarter that works to enhance and protect this historic district.

Free jazz on the bay!

The eagerly anticipated inaugural “Green Jazz on the Big Bay” is this Sunday, June 26, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m at the Embarcadero Marina Park North. The free event will fuse music and art with the message to reduce, reuse and recycle.  Vendors will present green energy solutions and products made from recycled materials, while the festival will utilize green solutions for energy and waste to create a fun family event with a very small footprint…

Did you know that the City of San Diego expanded their recycling program this year?  Attendees are asked to bring a recyclable plastic or aluminum container to the event to build awareness of items that the city collects for recycling.  A trash art exhibit will be on display, created by artists and architectural design students from the Escuela Superior de Artes Visuales in Tijuana.  Live music throughout the day will include Kenneth Crouch, Greg McKinney’s Kingdom Players, and Varsity String, made up of the top youth musicians from various San Diego high schools.

Green Jazz is one of many events that will be a part of the Port of San Diego’s Big Bay Waterfront event series. A portion of the proceeds will benefit San Diego Youth Services, a non-profit charitable organization that since founded, has stabilized the lives of over 500,000 homeless, runaway, abused and at-risk youth in the San Diego area. A little jazz, a little sun, a little do-goodism, what’s not to like!

Rubberside Down opened with some high energy rock

Saturday’s weather was sunny,  warm and slightly breezy… absolutely perfect for the debut of the 1st annual San Diego Oyster Fest..

Taking over the entire North Embarcadero Marina next to Seaport Village, the Fest started at 11 a.m and kept it going until 10 p.m. Live music provided by Karl Densons Tiny Universe, The Hooks, The Devastators, Rubberside Down & Old Man Markley kept everyone moving with jazz, rock, reggae, alternative, irish beat, bluegrass & everything in between.

There were plenty of the festivals namesake, OYSTERS! Raw, grilled, shucked & slurped, there was no shortage of the slippery tasty mollusk. Guinness quenched thirst with signature beers, including their Black & Tan. Captain Morgan mingled, dogs were welcome, and boaters on the bay paused or dropped anchor to listen to the bands. From the huge turnout (even Miss California made an appearance,) it’s our opinion that the San Diego Oyster Fest will definitely be back next year!  Our rating: 5 stars

Catch me if you can!!

Think you know San Diego?  Our finest city will be hosting its 3rd Annual City Chase this weekend, and this could be your chance to bring it!  Teams will be scouring the city, answering riddles and competing challenges to be the first team to cross the finish line at Tuna Harbor Park…

Think of it as our own, local version of ‘The Amazing Race’.  Teams of 2 people will select 10 of 19 possible challenges, led to the location by solving clues and traveling only via public transportation (no taxis allowed!) Sponsored by T-Mobile, City Chase will start at Tuna Harbor Park at 10 a.m. on Saturday June 19, and teams will have 6 hours to complete the course.  Family & friends are invited to cheer on participants as they finish at the same point.  Winning teams will advance to the national City Chase competition, and then on to the World City Chase.  Last year the series culminated in a three day event in Rome, Italy!

Stay Classy has been the local partner of the event, ever since it first hit San Diego streets 3 years ago.  Stay Classy is a  nonprofit organization serving the San Diego community through a series of philanthropic initiatives. This years San Diego City Chase will benefit the Invisible Children Foundation, which works to change the lives of children in war-torn countries like Uganda.

From one ‘city by the bay’ to another, comes San Diego’s inaugural Oyster Fest, an event so popular that it’s in its 11th year in San Francisco. Saturday, June 19th, head down to Marina Embarcadero North Park (by Seaport Village) for fresh oysters & live  music. Oyster shooters anyone?

Shellfish aficionados will enjoy the ‘Shuck and Suck’ Competition, Oyster History Exhibition and Oyster Cooking Demonstrations.  Other dishes will be available for the faint of heart, as well as alcoholic beverages.  Adult tickets are $20, and admission is free to those under 14 years old. Live music is to be provided by Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe and Tea Leaf Green, among others. Gates open at 11 a.m and music starts at noon.  Some of the proceeds will go to benefit the Team in Training group of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Silently making her way into the San Diego Bay in the early hours of June 7th, with billowing white sails bearing the red Christ’s Cross of Portugal… the tall ship Sagres emerged from a thick cover of fog…

The NRP Sagres is presently docked near the impressive collection of historic tall ships and submarines that encircle the San Diego Maritime Museum on Harbor Drive.  For the rest of the week, the public is invited aboard for free tours of this majestic  ship. The Sagres was built in 1937, and conjures up visions of an earlier era of wooden ships and high seas.  Tall ships  remain  romantic ambassadors of an earlier age of sail and exploration, with the Sagres  being one of the more impressive ships of her kind afloat. On Sunday, June 13th, Sagres will leave our bay and travel to Honolulu before continuing on around the world as a naval training vessel and a goodwill ambassador of Portugal.

While touring the ship on Monday, I was asked if I would like to share in a toast. We went below to the galley (dining/rec room) and I had the opportunity to enjoy a glass of fruited Portuguese wine and talk with several crew members. Some of the things they were most excited to ask about were the Padres, SeaWorld & the San Diego Zoo (of course!) Easy camaraderie and shared random moments with gracious hosts – I can say they’re the definition of goodwill ambassadors!

Our guide, Petty Officer José Costa of the Sagres

While the eastern coast of the the United States was primarily explored and settled by the British and French, The Portuguese and Spanish plied southern routes and were the first to explore our Pacific coast.  On September 28th, 1542, Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo discovered “a very good enclosed port” and called it San Miguel, which we now know as San Diego.  He likely anchored his flagship the San Salvador near Ballast Point, now Point Loma/Cabrillo National Monument. Point Loma is home to generations of Portuguese families, descendants of earlier expansions. The 100th Portuguese Festa was recently celebrated in Point Loma at the Portuguese Hall, with festivities and heart rivaling Portugal herself. It’s only natural, that with our rich Portuguese history, the San Diego Maritime Museum, and our own tall ship ambassadors, that the Sagres put in to port in San Diego!

Our city on the bay wouldn’t be the same without our maritime history. Thanks to the devoted efforts of the San Diego Maritime Museum, her tireless staff & enthusiastic volunteers, tall ships to submarines grace our bay. The museums latest, and perhaps greatest undertaking, will be the construction of an authentic replica of Cabrillo’s San Salvador, right along our waterfront! It will be a fully functional, full sized copy of the original ship, and serve as a living classroom for San Diego’s schoolchildren and visitors. When it’s  complete, the ship can travel along our coast as well as other ports, as an ambassador for San Diego.  An undertaking of this magnitude requires the support of the community for funding. Donations for the ‘San Salvador Campaign’ are much needed by the Museum to continue their efforts to keep San Diego at the top of North American maritime museums.

“Saudamos a Sagres e sua tripulação de San Diego!”

]]> http://sandiegosuncoast.com/2010/06/09/1937-portuguese-tall-ship-sagres-sails-into-san-diego/feed/ 1 http://sandiegosuncoast.com/2010/05/29/san-diego-goes-global-with-international-food-fair/ http://sandiegosuncoast.com/2010/05/29/san-diego-goes-global-with-international-food-fair/#comments Sun, 30 May 2010 05:40:14 +0000 Susi http://sandiegosuncoast.com/?p=13040

Explore the tastes of the world in one afternoon at the 30th annual Ethnic Food Fair in Balboa Park this weekend.  The House of Pacific Relations International Cottages (all 21 of them!)  will be open to host festivities, with food, music, and costumed entertainers representing 32 different countries.

The cottages will be open this Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm, and admission is free, as always.  Foods in a boggling array of cuisine will be available at a nominal fee per plate.  Visitors may sample bangers from Britain, flan from the Philippines, Italian pastas and pizza, brats and kraut from Germany, Norwegian waffles, tabbouleh from Palestine, ropa vieja and Indian fried bread from Panama, and a vat of Spanish paella, among many others.  Music and dance troupes will add more flavor to the day, representing cultures from around the world.

Pack up the family and ride or drive to the event.  Enjoy a world tour in the span of one sunny San Diego day, in Balboa Park – one of our favorite stay-cation destinations!

]]> http://sandiegosuncoast.com/2010/05/29/san-diego-goes-global-with-international-food-fair/feed/ 0 http://sandiegosuncoast.com/2010/05/15/north-park-festival-of-the-arts-2010/ http://sandiegosuncoast.com/2010/05/15/north-park-festival-of-the-arts-2010/#comments Sat, 15 May 2010 17:26:25 +0000 Sandi Beach http://sandiegosuncoast.com/?p=12986

North Park is THE place to be this Sunday, May 16th. Come celebrate San Diego’s diversity and love of the finer things, like art, music, food & drink, at North Park’s Festival of the Arts.  In its 14th year, the free Festival…

has something for everyone, with six stages of live music, performance & dance, and plenty of hands-on activities in the Kid’s Art Beat Area.  You can peruse arts & crafts in all mediums in the Artist’s Village, and sample tasty treats in the International Food Court.

This year features a new Craft Beer Block, celebrating San Diego’s recent distinction of being the “#1 Beer City in the United States”.  While the rest of the Festival is free, tickets for the beer & food tasting are $25 in advance or $30 on Sunday. The tickets include eight beer or wine samples and five tastes of house specialties from area restaurants including: Urban Solace, The Linkery, Sea Rocket Bistro, and more.

Located on University & 30th St, check  the map here for driving tips.  Or you could go native, and utilize the free Bike Valet Service on Iowa Street at University Avenue, provided by Velo Cult Bike Shop and the San Diego Bicycle Coalition.

The festival benefits North Park Main Street, a non-profit organization committed to the revitalization of the North Park Business Improvement District – focused on bringing new life and a lasting vitality to the North Park area.