1 BESTIVAL FESTIVALS
Springtime is here and with the season comes the requisite blooming flowers, bunnies frolicking through meadows and street festivals offering good grub and fun. This weekend alone, there are three cool free festivals. Instead of making them go head-to-head Thunderdome-style for your affections, we decided to let them share the top spot.
Kicking off festival weekend is the North Park Festival of Arts, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 18. Now in its 17th year, the festival brings all manner of art to University Avenue between 30th and 32nd streets. Therell also be live music throughout the day by Midnight Pine, The Palace Ballroom, Bulletins and more. For $25 to $30, you can quench your thirst at the festivals Craft Beer Block, which will serve suds from 25 local breweries. Get details at northparkfestivalofarts.com.
Vintage collectors can shop their little twee hearts out on Sunday, May 19, at the La Mesa Antique Street Faire, organized by the La Mesa Village Merchants Association. Cruise booth after booth of antiques, vintage goods and collectibles from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and even get your old finds appraised by experts.
Event spokesperson Audrey Burrows says the absence of food vendors and cell-phone providers makes this event extra-special. There are no distractions—just good, ol vintage picking.
Theres so much cool stuff, from little tiny knick-knacks and huge pieces of furniture, Burrows says. We get vendors from all over Southern California. Its popular with people into steampunk because a lot of the antiques and collectibles are fun for that generation.
The event occurs along La Mesa Boulevard in downtown La Mesa. Check lmvma.com.
If vintage isnt your bag, you can celebrate Italian culture at the San Diego Sicilian Festival from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, May 19. The 20th-annual event will feature great food, grape stomping, live music, a parade and folk dancing in Little Italy. Learn more at sicilianfesta.com.
2 DANCE APOCALYPSE
Check out the video trailer on Diavolo Dance Theaters website, diavolo.org. Are you a little creeped-out by the dancers slithering from openings in a giant 2001-meets-Mad Max square box? How about the guys who seem milliseconds away from being smushed by a huge, rocking wood platform? Diavolo was founded by Jacques Heim, who choreographed Cirque du Soleils Ka. But unlike Cirque, which is all about spectacle, for Diavolo, Heim strips it down, putting the focus on his acrobatic dancers and how they interact with the strange, postmodern structures that inhabit the stage, proving theres greatness in simplicity. Performances are at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 18, and 2 p.m. Sunday, May 19, at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, 4126 Executive Drive in La Jolla. $28 to $42. sdcjc.org
3 LOOKIE HERE
The human eye is a taker. It takes in the sights, and it just keeps taking. The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego recognizes this. Riffing off its longstanding policy—people 25 and younger get in free—the museum recently held the 25 and Under Art Contest, inviting the young folks to make and submit works of art themed around what the museum calls the Greedy Organ. The work of the contests 25 finalists will be on view at a showcase at MCASD Downtown (1100 Kettner Blvd.) from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, May 16. Four winners will be selected in Curators Choice and Peoples Choice categories. Vote for your favorites at facebook.com/mcasd and at the event. Free with admission ($5 to $10). mcasd.org
Does your event deserve to be in our top three? Email our events editor, Alex Zaragoza. You can also bug her on Twitter.
