Representatives of many communities come together during Old Town San Diego’s Founders Day to celebrate our city’s diverse history.
Founders Day is being celebrated in Old Town this weekend. This Old Town San Diego Chamber of Commerce event, which is inspired by our city’s 250th anniversary, is being held along San Diego Avenue, just south of the State Park.
I walked around at noontime today and took photos!
The colorful Founders Day festival will continue tomorrow. There will be street vendors and music and dancing and a whole lot of history to experience. If you can, head to Old Town San Diego and check it out!
San Diego Avenue was full of color and activity during my walk on the Saturday of Founders Day weekend.A banner on an Old Town lamp post remembers the year 1769, when Junípero Serra founded a Spanish mission in San Diego.This musician smiled for a blogger who happened to walk by.The San Diego Model A Ford Club had lots of vintage cars on display during the event.Root beer floats could be enjoyed at this outdoor Western saloon!The San Diego History Center had a display detailing important moments in San Diego’s 250 year history.Early people, events and developments in San Diego’s history include the native Kumeyaay, the Spanish arrival, and the establishment of Mission San Diego de Alcalá in 1769.Frontier musicians play banjo, guitar and washboard.Historical reenactors from Old Town’s African Latin Museum participated in Founders Day.SDSU Archaeology had a table near the Whaley House Museum.San Diego State University Archaeology students once excavated behind the Whaley House, and found many interesting artifacts.Uncovered artifacts included bottles and various household items common in early San Diego.Write Out Loud had their Poe and Twain puppets roaming about during the cool event!Diverse people come together during Founders Day to celebrate our city’s complex and uniquely fascinating 250 years of history. During the opening ceremony, words of optimism were expressed for the future!
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The Old Town San Diego Foundation is raising funds so that Fourth Grade students across San Diego County can continue taking educational field trips to Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. The San Diego History Program helps kids learn about San Diego’s unique, culturally diverse early history. But financial assistance is urgently needed!
I found out about this program today while walking about Old Town’s Founders Day event. I learned thousands of students have been fortunate to enjoy these field trips in past years. Fourth graders visit Old Town’s interactive museums and enjoy special docent led tours.
The nice folks of the Old Town San Diego Foundation explained that without this program, many young people would probably never visit the birthplace of San Diego and California.
Often kids who participate are so amazed by what they discover, they bring their families back to Old Town! How cool is that?
But funds are now needed to continue this program.
Please visit the Old Town San Diego Foundation website here to learn more.
And please visit the “4th Graders Need Your Help” GoFundMe page here to make your contribution! Donations are 100% tax deductible.
(I know that some educators follow this blog. Spread the word!)
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Last Tuesday I headed to Liberty Station to check out a cool exhibition at IDW’s Comic Art Gallery before the start of Comic-Con. I arrived half an hour before the gallery opened, so I moseyed around Liberty Station’s beautiful park-like setting.
I walked by the Visions Art Museum and poked my nose inside.
There I discovered something inspiring! One of the museum’s walls featured a display of small quilts made by third grade students who attend Perkins Elementary School in Barrio Logan. (About a year ago I photographed part of this school’s outdoor mural.)
Their teacher, who was sitting at the Vision Art Museum’s front desk, briefly told me her students, some of whom are homeless, were super excited to create this artwork. They drew the design first, then cut out pieces of colorful fabric, which they assembled into expressive self-portraits!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Kumeyaay traditional Bird Songs are performed during the San Diego 250 Civic Commemoration Ceremony.
This evening a very special event was held in San Diego.
A crowd gathered near the top of Presidio Hill, in the parking lot just below the Serra Museum, to take part in the San Diego 250 Civic Commemoration Ceremony.
The historic event was staged in the same spot overlooking San Diego Bay where a Spanish mission and presidio were built in 1769. It is where San Diego began 250 years ago.
The first part of the San Diego 250 Civic Commemoration Ceremony featured cultural entertainment representing our remarkably diverse city. Several colorful dances were followed by speeches by politicians, dignitaries and diplomats, plus several leaders of the Native American Kumeyaay people–those who have lived in this region many thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans. The audience experienced a Kumeyaay blessing and traditional Bird Songs. With sincere words past injustices and the suffering of the Kumeyaay were acknowledged, and optimism was expressed that our city’s future will be inclusive and bright.
For as long as I can remember, three flagpoles have stood at this place where the Spanish built their first outpost in California. Three banners have flown representing the history of San Diego: the flags of Spain, Mexico and the United States.
A fourth flagpole was recently installed. Today, at the close of the ceremony, a flag incorporating the different tribes of the Kumeyaay Nation was blessed with white sage smoke–to purify minds and hearts-and raised proudly, acknowledging and honoring San Diego’s first people.
I took some photographs of this important historical event.
Early arrivals for San Diego’s big 250th Anniversary event claim a seat and await some cultural entertainment.A variety of tents could be visited for food, drink and information about San Diego and its history.Kumeyaay tools and crafts are on display at one table.Map shows the different Kumeyaay villages of our region. The village of Cosoy was located near the base of Presidio Hill, where Old Town is located today.Prior to the ceremony, I walked a bit through Presidio Park. I took a photograph of VIPs arriving by Old Town Trolley at the Serra Museum.Performers lounge on grass behind the stage before the program begins.Someone takes a seat in the VIP section as Lion Dancers begin the multicultural entertainment.
The ballet folklorico dancing that followed was enthusiastic, joyous and loudly applauded.
Dancers representing San Diego’s Portuguese community take the stage.
A dance followed that represented San Diego’s Vietnamese community.
The VIPs take their seats as speeches are about to commence.There are four flagpoles, but only three flags are flying.Mayor Faulconer addresses the crowd, urging unity and a positive future for all who live in San Diego.A leader of the Kumeyaay Nation addresses those assembled.Kumeyaay women sway in front of the stage as the men perform traditional Bird Songs.
A presentation is made to the San Diego History Center, which operates the Junipero Serra Museum and helped to arrange this special ceremony.Before the event concludes, everyone’s attention is directed to the four flagpoles.The Kumeyaay color guard stands ready.The flag of the Kumeyaay Nation is unfolded and blessed.It is raised.The Kumeyaay color guard poses with pride for a photograph.The flag of the Kumeyaay Nation now flies on historic Presidio Hill, in a place of honor.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
I recently took these photos of street art on Logan Avenue, just east of Chicano Park!
All this cool artwork can be found along the northeast side of Logan Avenue, between Don Diego VFW Post 7420 at Evans Street and the basileIE art space. Fences, planters and buildings have been painted with military servicemembers, Aztec faces, and diverse figures representing the Barrio Logan community. This might be the most colorful short stretch of sidewalk in all of San Diego!
Immediately to the northwest on Logan Avenue there are even more great murals, at the Chicano Park Herb Garden and Alchemy Motorcycles. See those by clicking here.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
During my walk around the Chula Vista Library early this afternoon I stumbled upon The Turning Wheel Project. A very colorful bus was parked behind the library, and a group of youth was learning about the culture and history of Chicano Park, Logan Heights and other nearby communities!
The Turning Wheel Project, I learned, is a partnership between the Chicano Park Steering Committee, the Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center, and the University of San Diego. The bus serves as a mobile classroom where students can learn about the unique culture and history of their own community. Curious minds learn about the power of art, science and engineering, and contemplate the past, present and future.
I stepped into the bus and saw many interesting photographs depicting activism and the historic struggle to create Chicano Park. Representations of Chicano Park’s world-famous murals were also on display. As I poked my nose about, professors from USD were speaking to some students.
If you’d like to learn more about The Turning Wheel Project: El Pueblo En Movimiento – A Community In Movement, check out their website here!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
More fantastic street murals have been popping up in City Heights!
Artists have been painting all sorts of new murals along University Avenue, primarily between I-805 and I-15. Most have been created for #theavenuemuralproject. According to Carlos Quezada of Love City Heights, brand new murals have been debuting almost every month!
On Sunday I was shown a bunch that were recently completed. Each new mural uniquely enriches this proud, culturally diverse community. Artists, volunteers and neighbors have been coming together one wall at a time to make a positive difference for all.
And the future is bright! The stretch of University Avenue between I-805 and I-15 is a growing “drive-through” art gallery with truly unlimited potential. Muralists of local, national and even international renown are showing an interest in City Heights.
Victor Ochoa, one of the world’s most famous muralists, a pioneer of San Diego’s Chicano art movement, will be creating an amazing new masterpiece on University Avenue later this year!
To see some of these new murals, check out my previous two blog posts.
The following photographs show even more!
A cool new mural on University Avenue in City Heights, created by Beth Emmerich, with the assistance of several other great street artists.
This abstract mural is titled UnPerfect, by Walker Matthews, Carlos Quezada and Edwin Lohr.LOVE CITY HEIGHTSLeft end of a long mural on University Avenue near 50th Street. It faces a new park-like community gathering place. Created by @illumihaadi and local youth, with support from City Heights CDC and City Heights Business Association. The neighborhood is home to many Somalis.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
