Boy dressed as tin man enjoys Boulevard BOO! Parade in San Diego.
I’ve heard about San Diego’s only Halloween parade for years. Today I checked it out!
The Boulevard BOO! Parade is now ten years old. It takes place every late October on El Cajon Boulevard near College Avenue. The neighborhood, just south of San Diego State University, appears to have really embraced this annual Halloween event!
Hundreds of families turned out to view the fun spectacle. The BOO! Parade is mostly for kids, and many young spectators had trick-or-treat bags and were in costume themselves!
Here are my best pics!
10th annual BOO! Parade took place on El Cajon Boulevard.Two scary zombie kids were seen lurching down the street before the parade began.These pirates were being rascally and rambunctious in the parade staging area!BOO! Parade kicks off a few blocks west of College Avenue in the late morning.
The tall ghostly blue creature is the character Boo!
Super tall Boo is blue, and he seems to blend in with the clouds.Looks like all the regular monsters have shown up for this big Halloween parade!There were a few not-so-scary clowns around, too!Marine Corps marching band gets things rolling near start of parade.One of many creative floats seen during the fun late October parade.Two different Ghostbusters cars were in the parade.Kids get goodies from a ghostbuster patrolling El Cajon Boulevard.Costumed parade participants from San Diego Center for the Blind.Here come some smiling SDSU cheerleaders.The San Diego State University mascot Aztec Warrior gives a high five!Lots of cars in the parade were draped with creepy cobwebs.Kids marching in the parade wore every sort of cool costume you can imagine!Here comes a long line of classic cars with spooky decorations.A witch waves to a passing skeleton!The San Diego Police Department must be hiring guys with evil pumpkin heads!One of two pirate ships I saw. This was most definitely very cool.Little zombies do a dance routine!Several schools were in the parade and everyone was having a blast.Here come the Shriners in their Halloween-themed mini-cars!And here come more clowns out of the woodwork.The second pirate ship rolls along with some waving beauty queens.A beauty queen is wearing a big, golden pharaoh headdress!I suppose these young ladies are the queens of Zombieland!And this beauty queen is dressed up as macaroni and cheese!Looks like the ROTC is recruiting young monsters.Headless parader thrills girls and shocks poor old mom.A whole lot of fun was enjoyed by thousands today, young and old.Utility box on El Cajon Boulevard painted with scenes from BOO! Parade.
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Selling very special edition Union-Tribune newspapers during Kids’ NewsDay!
Smiling volunteers could be seen throughout San Diego this morning selling special edition newspapers! Today was the 25th anniversary of Kids’ NewsDay, a much-anticipated yearly event whose purpose is to benefit Rady Children’s Hospital.
Over the years, thousands of children and families have been helped by the money raised by generous people who purchase this inspiring edition of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Since the first Kids’ NewsDay in 1990, about 30,000 volunteers have sold over a million papers, raising nearly 3 million dollars! That’s amazing! The featured section of the newspaper is filled with stories of kids overcoming extremely difficult situations, many with rare or life-threatening diseases. The stories are filled with optimism, and the most inspiring stories are written by children themselves!
If you would like to make a donation to Rady Children’s Hospital, please click this link!
Kid’s NewsDay helps raise funds for Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego.
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Participants in Little Italy’s Festa Bocce Ball Tournament at practice.
During last Sunday’s Festa event in San Diego’s Little Italy, an exciting bocce tournament was held at Amici Park, right next to all the glorious Gesso Italiano chalk art.
Bocce is similar to lawn bowling and dates back to the ancient Roman Empire. According to a plaque set in the concrete near one of Amici Park’s bocce courts, it’s the world’s oldest sport!
I captured a few pics of the action!
Two bocce courts are open to the public in Amici Park near sculptures of Italian food!Man prepares to strategically send bocce ball down the long court.Watching the action on a lazy, perfect San Diego weekend.I saw a lot of stylish hats and calculating, cunning players.Gentleman leans against checkered tablecloth set with a plate of metal artichokes.Rules of bocce on a plaque. The right way to play bocce is the way your dad plays!
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School students create amazing chalk art on a Little Italy street for the 2014 Festa event.
2014 Festa takes place tomorrow! The extremely popular event, this year celebrating its 20th anniversary, will be held as usual on the streets of Little Italy, a neighborhood on the north side of downtown San Diego. I’m excited!
Why?
The Gesso Italiano chalk art! Several city blocks will be overflowing with absolutely fantastic artistic creations! Perhaps you remember my blogs posts about the astounding chalk art at 2013 Festa. You’ll find them here, here and here.
Today a small army of artists began to work on a several block stretch of bare asphalt in San Diego. Tomorrow over a hundred thousand people will crowd Date Street and admire the finished masterpieces.
One block of Date Street has been reserved just for school kids! They were hard at work when I walked past today mid-afternoon!
Stand by for loads more photos tomorrow! I’m heading out to Festa in the early morning wearing comfortable walking shoes!
Washington Elementary STEAM students attend school just up the street.This Italian chalk art will be admired by tens of thousands on Sunday.Roosevelt I.B. Middle School students work on a scene that includes a gondola.The many chalk artists usually use existing images as a guide.Gesso Italiano chalk art is extremely bold, bright and colorful.Santa Fe Christian High School students were creating some fun, inspired art!Grant Pecoff has a studio in Little Italy. His original artwork is being duplicated.Torrey Pines High School National Art Honor Society student works on asphalt canvas.Platt College had partially completed this, but no one was present when I walked past.13 year old Lidia F. Vasquez has been creating stunning chalk art for 4 years!Here’s what Lidia is working from. She attends High Tech Middle School.And this is the super cool, mind-blowing masterpiece young Lidia is producing. Wow!Teresa Elliot is almost finished with this abstract many-colored human face.The Mount Miguel High School design appears to contain a cherub with rainbow wings.Very talented young people are hard at work on a sunny day in San Diego.Team from Cathedral Catholic High School works to create some elaborate art.Chalk outlines of human figures that are slowly taking form.Torrey Hills Elementary kids are making something Italian that looks tasty!San Pasqual High School still has a bit or work to do. I can’t wait to see it finished!Lincoln Acres Art Program is creating a cool Mona Lisa optical illusion with chalk!I could take photos of this incredible stuff all day!One block of Date Street at Festa is dedicated to school students and their art!
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San Diego Dance Theater performs Trolley Dances at City College.
The Trolley Dances, a unique event put on by the San Diego Dance Theater, is being held this year at downtown’s City College. I live a short walk away, so I figured I’d head that way this morning before it became too hot. (We’re experiencing mild but very toasty Santa Ana weather here in Southern California.) I thought that perhaps I could snap a few pics as a casual bystander.
The Trolley Dances involves a mobile audience, which walks from venue to venue. The dances are staged in some of the most unexpected public places. Every year the locations change.
I was successful! These photos are of the third “stage” of the 2014 Trolley Dances…
One unusual venue, at bottom of steps on the campus of San Diego City College.Here come people who are enjoying a variety of surprising performances.Audience gets ready to watch the third dance of the 2014 Trolley Dances.Dancers in flowing blue appear at the top of the broad steps!Graceful dancers descend the high stairs in a grand entrance!The free form dance twirls and floats before the eyes of onlookers.Rhythmic energy fills the unusual stage on a sunny, quite warm day.Dancers perform many athletic, amazing moves.Beautiful dance delights a host of San Diegans.This performance was a carefree, joyful, very cool sight to behold!The dancers return to the stairs for a final few moments.The dancers retreat to prepare for the next group in a few minutes.This Trolley Dances group heads off to the next surprising location!The Trolley Dances is a cool, very unique tradition in San Diego!
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San Diego Astronomy Association members set up telescopes in Balboa Park.
Late this evening I took a stroll through Balboa Park. As the nodding, golden sun bid the blue sky farewell, a smattering of telescopes began to sprout under the brightening moon near the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center.
Today is the first Wednesday of the month. That’s the day members of the San Diego Astronomy Association gaze at stars and the universe’s infinite beauty, and invite casual passersby to gaze up at the wonders. Young and old bend over to peer through eyepieces, and are awed by the craters of the moon, planets that happen to be swinging overhead, colorful nebulae and distant galaxies…
The viewing begins in earnest around eight o’clock, when the sky is good and dark, right after the Reuben H. Fleet’s planetarium shows the monthly “Sky Tonight” program on their big IMAX screen.
Table with astronomy book, eyepieces and other equipment.One of many amateur telescopes set up the first Wednesday of every month.Someone checks out a half moon around sunset.Lights come on along El Prado and more stargazing enthusiasts arrive.My little camera barely registers the moon above the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center.The nearby fountain takes on a beautiful glow as night descends.
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Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo discovered San Diego Bay for Spain in 1542.
San Diego’s 51st Annual Cabrillo Festival was held today. Taking place at Ballast Point near the south end of Naval Base Point Loma, the event allowed the public to view a reenactment of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo’s entrance into San Diego Bay in 1542. Cabrillo, born in Portugal, commanded his voyage of discovery on behalf of Spain, sailing the galleon San Salvador up the west coast of America.
In addition to the colorful reenactment, the festival included a short ceremony, speeches, costumes, National Park exhibits, food and dance provided by various cultural groups, and just a lot of interesting local history. I took some photographs. Here they are!
Visitors to the 51st Annual Cabrillo Festival await reenactment of historic event.People gather above the small beach at Ballast Point on Naval Base Point Loma.As people await a rowboat full of reenactors, event commentary is provided.
A short walk out to a point beside the bay provided a view of the San Diego Maritime Museum’s tall ship Californian, which portrayed Cabrillo’s galleon San Salvador.
Tall ship Californian, in the distance, serves during event as Cabrillo’s galleon San Salvador.
I took pictures of two signs by the above fenced archeological site…
Sign at Ballast Point tells about archeological site of old Spanish whaling station.Stones and tiles are remains of an old tryworks oven where whale oil was boiled.
I headed back to the gathered crowd to await the main event…
Here comes the rowboat containing explorer Cabrillo, a priest and crew members.People watching this recreation of history are snapping photos like crazy.Cabrillo leaps from the galleon’s small boat onto the shore!Cabrillo in armor raises his sword, while priest with cross stands behind him.Cabrillo now plants a Spanish Cross of Burgundy flag on soil of New World.A proclamation is read on behalf of Spain by Portuguese explorer Cabrillo.Actors depart the narrow beach and head up to join the onlookers.Kids pose with a modern day version of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo.Many folks in costume were in the big crowd!Navy honor guard prepares for anthems of four nations and a moment of silence.Making an adjustment to costume from the Old World centuries ago.Anthems were played for Spain, Portugal, Mexico and the United States.
In addition to the four national anthems, a moment of silence honored the Native American Kumeyaay, who lived in this area long before Europeans arrived. Cabrillo spent a few days anchored in today’s San Diego Bay, a place he originally named San Miguel. He took on fresh water and traded with the native Kumeyaay people that he met.
People watch with interest during the short ceremony that included several speeches.Several beauty queens appear on stage and smile for everyone.Exhibits included various parts of Spanish conquistador armor.Small boy tries on a surprisingly heavy steel helmet.Chainmail was being twisted with an apparatus at the end of this table.Biscuits, nuts and an astrolabe are typical items carried on a Spanish galleon.Scouts demonstrate rope making with an interesting machine.Friendly lady was making woolen caps to be worn under those heavy steel helmets!
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Volunteers help clean up our San Diego Bay near the Star of India.
The annual San Diego Bay Downtown Cleanup was held this morning! Local scuba divers cleaned up underwater garbage at the edge of our beautiful waterfront, while other volunteers assisted gathering trash above water.
I walked along the Embarcadero from the San Diego Maritime Museum down to Tuna Harbor and took a bunch of cool photographs. Hopefully these pics provide a little inspiration! Let’s make the world more clean and beautiful!
This guy was assisting divers removing trash along the Embarcadero.Power Scuba and Control Group teamed up for downtown waterfront cleanup event.Looking out at dive boat from inside Anthony’s Fishette.Many San Diegans assisted in various ways, or just watched with curiosity.Bags of garbage were gathered throughout the morning to be hauled away later.A participant checks out what’s going on in the water below.The boardwalk near the USS Midway was full of activity.New trash compacting and recycling cans along the Embarcadero are solar powered.Old and young were helping out the environment, making our fine city even better.Scuba divers checked in here before beginning their underwater mission.Piles of garbage found in the bay include construction cones and a shopping cart.Bags of trash are collected as the morning progresses.Pool skimming nets were handy for removing floating litter and debris.Port of San Diego’s boat Tsunami II is used to help clean the bay.Scuba diver gets hosed off on Tuna Harbor dock after gathering trash.
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Large trees by San Diego River snapped by sudden violent microburst winds.
Late yesterday, a few minutes after five o’clock, a violent microburst tore through Mission Valley, several miles north of downtown San Diego. Similar microbursts occurred elsewhere around the city and county, bringing thunder and lightning, torrential downpours and extremely violent winds. San Diegans saw on the news how many small airplanes parked at Montgomery Field in Kearny Mesa (a few miles farther north) were thrown through the air and overturned like mere toys.
I was fortunate. I left the place where I work in Mission Valley half an hour early. Many of my coworkers weren’t so fortunate. One, walking to the Hazard Center trolley station, took shelter in a grocery store while the wind, sounding like an oncoming tornado, knocked over sturdy steel shopping cart corrals in the parking lot with ease. He reported the fury of the storm only lasted a few minutes.
Early this morning I walked along the pathway that follows the north side of the San Diego River. For better than a mile, from Qualcomm Way west well past Mission Center Road, I photographed the aftermath of the terrifying microburst. The amount of damage to the river’s lush canopy of trees was indescribable. Hundreds of trees, large and small, were torn to pieces or uprooted by the brief microbust.
These pics aren’t so cool, but they are interesting…
Popular pathway through Mission Valley is covered with miles of fallen trees.Walking along the river required fancy footwork the morning after the freak storm.One of many trees torn to pieces next to residential buildings.The late summer microburst came on a very hot, humid San Diego day.San Diego River seen behind devastated trees near walking path.This hurricane-like rainstorm ended so quickly no severe flooding occurred.
This sign talks about the history of flooding in Mission Valley, and how nature occasionally flushes out accumulated debris and keeps the river healthy. Because the storm was so brief, nature didn’t create much flooding yesterday–but it certainly created quite a bit of debris!
Many trees around the developed parts of Mission Valley were also uprooted!
Tree trimming businesses and city workers converged in full force on Mission Valley today! Many truckloads of branches were hauled off from all over!
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San Diego 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb sign and event building.
I saw on the news this morning that a special event was being held to remember the firemen and other heroes who responded with selfless courage during the 9/11 attack, thirteen years ago. Firefighters, wearing full gear, would climb ninety stories of stairs, simulating a climb of the World Trade Center towers shortly after they were struck.
My meandering Sunday walk around downtown started late, and by the time I was near the Convention Center, it was early afternoon. But I figured I’d swing around to the tall Hilton hotel to see if the event was still underway.
The stair climbing was over. But many firefighters and emergency responders from San Diego and the surrounding region were still in the park in front of the thirty story Hilton, enjoying food and fellowship.
I personally can’t imagine climbing the equivalent of three tall Hilton hotel buildings wearing all that awkward, extremely heavy gear! These heroes of today, with all of their might, honored the memory of those who endangered their own lives trying to save others.
Firefighters on anniversary of 9/11 passed under an American flag.Heavy firefighting gear flung off after a very difficult climb.Emergency responders and the public were invited to the meaningful event.A piece of the fallen World Trade Center on display by stage.Some firemen head home with gear after the Sunday morning event.Used firefighter turnout bags and unique skateboards sold in front of Hilton.This little house simulated fire fighting for small children. They saved a teddy bear!A flag, a firetruck and many heroes. The selfless courage of 9/11 firefighters is honored.
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