Organizations and businesses who support the environment were lined up behind the center, while vendor canopies and diverse cultural entertainment took place on the open grass nearby. Inside the WorldBeat Cultural Center there was more life to experience, including the rhythms of San Diego Taiko that I enjoyed. Visitors could also walk through the center’s lush Ethnobotany Sanctuary Garden. (I’ll be blogging about the garden later.)
There was plenty to see and do!
Behind the WorldBeat Cultural Center’s building, several canopies were set up for Earth Day. This is where visitors could enjoy most of the environmental activities and education.The San Diego Bird Alliance was showing how to mix clay and seeds to make seed balls that melt in the rain.Local native seed libraries can be found all around San Diego County. The San Diego Beekeeping Society was present with a contained hive for the purposes of demonstration. They are working to save bees.People visiting the Global Earth Day Festival could pot a plant!There were opportunities for swapping seeds, purchasing plants and composting!Books celebrating diversity could be found here. Sitting at the table is author JohnnieRenee Nelson!Books promote positive values of African American families.Lots of smiles at the KNSJ community radio station tent!Inside the WorldBeat Cultural Center people listen to a performance by San Diego Taiko.Some of the vendors on the grass near Park Boulevard.Many people come together in beautiful San Diego. WorldBeat Cultural Center hosts their 34th Annual Global Earth Day Festival!
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San Diego Taiko performed today at the WorldBeat Cultural Center’s 34th Annual Global Earth Day Festival. I happened to arrive when they were drumming. Perfect timing!
I happen to love Japanese taiko drumming. If the powerful, deep beats, and the stirring complex rhythms don’t accelerate your heartbeat, I’m not sure what will! Taiko gives me a feeling of uplift and joy. The smiling performers were obviously loving it, too!
Many in the audience stood up and joined a dance!
The WorldBeat Cultural Center vibrated with percussive energy!
I see the group has taiko workshops and welcome people who’d like to learn the art.
On their website, there’s also a section about the Folk Club of San Diego. Members study traditional Japanese folk songs that feature song, dance, taiko, and other traditional Japanese instruments.
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Three classes of schooner raced from a point off Shelter Island, out of San Diego Bay through the channel, around a couple of buoy markers, and back.
I was privileged to be aboard Bill of Rights out of Chula Vista. Our primary opponent of similar size during the Schooner Cup was Californian of the Maritime Museum of San Diego.
Bill of Rights began its journey out of Chula Vista Harbor under its diesel engine. At this time we got our sails ready. Once the race began under watch of the SGYC Race Committee boat off Shelter Island, it was all wind power!
Several dozen people were aboard–crew members plus passengers–and many volunteer hands were employed pulling on lines when raising the sails and tacking during the race. The ship’s dog Justice kept watch on all the activity!
I took lots of photos!
Mind you, I’m a complete novice when it comes to sailing. I asked a bunch of questions, and I hope my descriptions here have been accurate.
Who won? As of this moment I don’t know where to find the results. (UPDATE–they’re now on the Schooner Cup webpage.)
As I understand it, we DNFed because we missed our first mark! (UPDATE–we sailed the wrong course!) No matter. It was a fun, wonderful day for all on an amazing, historic tall ship, sailing out on the sunlit water.
My photographs begin as we start out from Chula Vista Harbor…
We’re near Shelter Island, where the various schooners are sailing around before the race begins…
Maneuvering for position as the America’s Schooner Cup race is about to begin!
Here we go!
Soon after this dramatic moment out on the Pacific Ocean, the schooners chose different tacks and became widely separated. No more close up photos of our competitors.
Finally, sailing back into San Diego Bay. That’s Justice the ship’s dog keeping lookout!
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This weekend you have one last chance to experience a very special exhibition of art in Balboa Park. Members of the San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild are exhibiting work that celebrates the history and culture of Logan Heights and other neighborhoods along Imperial Avenue east of downtown San Diego.
One Day in the Life on Imperial is the title of the exhibition, now on display in Gallery 21 of Balboa Park’s Village Arts Center (still known widely as Spanish Village).
Last month, at the TULAROSA gallery, I visited the first version of this exhibition. It has greatly expanded and moved since then, and many more diverse artworks are now collected together for visitors to enjoy!
The art you’ll encounter shows what life is like along historic Imperial Avenue. Families and shopkeepers, happiness and struggles–every aspect of a community is the subject matter of local artists who walked the street, absorbing all they experienced. Many of the resulting pieces are energetic and colorful.
One Day in the Live on Imperial continues through Monday, April 20th, 2026. If you’re heading to Balboa Park this weekend, you ought to swing by!
A few examples…
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Some of the most jaw-dropping Warhammer 40k cosplay creations are now on display in San Diego’s Comic-Con Museum! They’re gigantic and amazing in their detail! For an idea of scale, see my first photo.
Head downstairs and walk into the gallery devoted to costumes created for Comic-Con’s world-famous Masquerade. Among other fantastic creations, you’ll see these Warhammer 40k character suits that can actually be worn. They are made out of EVA foam sheets by Joe Ramirez.
Not surprisingly, Joe has won multiple awards for his cosplay productions. His handle is @Beyonderjoe.
The costumes in this gallery change from time to time, so make sure to have a new look every time you visit the museum.
The impressive 17 deck, 2770 passenger cruise ship, which launched in September last year, arrived in San Diego this month to begin operations on the West Coast. The adults only Virgin Voyages ship will be cruising down to Mexico and up to Alaska. It’s the fourth ship in the Virgin Voyages fleet.
I saw the new cruise ship this morning docked at San Diego’s Broadway Pier.
Baseball is being celebrated at the San Diego History Center. While the 2026 season gets underway, the Inside/Out exhibit in the museum’s atrium summons happy baseball memories.
Artifacts and ephemera from the San Diego History Center’s collection are front and center. Most of the memorabilia on display concern the San Diego Padres and professional baseball in our city. Tony Gwynn, Jerry Coleman, the San Diego Chicken and others are lovingly remembered.
There are multiple objects from the 1978 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at San Diego Stadium (pre-Jack Murphy Stadium). Padres players Dave Winfield and Rollie Fingers contributed to the National League victory.
I noticed one shelf celebrates Alice “Lefty” Hohlmayer, a longtime Bonita resident who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1946 to 1951. She was inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame in 2005.
Very cool!
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You might have heard that the Artemis II moon mission will be splashing down off the San Diego coast on Friday shortly after 5 pm. But did you know you can be watching the mission live during its lunar flyby?
This afternoon I’ve been watching live video from NASA as Artemis II has begun passing around the far side of the moon! It’s the farthest humans have ever flown from planet Earth. Over 250,000 miles!
Right now as I type this they cannot contact Earth due to loss of signal, but as soon as they come around the opposite side of the moon, we’ll hear from them again and see new views! From over a quarter million miles away!
I urge everyone to watch the live feed from NASA as this historic mission progresses. Human eyes are seeing what they have never seen before. You can watch the live feed from the NASA website. Click here!
All my photos are screenshots taken from the live video feed.
Here’s one look inside the Orion manned capsule:
And here’s the Earth–that tiny bright sliver–about to pass behind the moon as the Artemis II mission moves around the moon:
UPDATE!
Later, the crew of Artemis II would watch a solar eclipse–one never seen before! From a point near the moon!
Yes, the moon at their position appeared much larger than the sun. That tiny dot is Venus.
Science will benefit from this unique observation of the sun’s corona.
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A couple weeks ago this interesting sculpture was installed on the grass near the box office of the California Center for the Arts, Escondido. It’s titled Sound Shower.
Artist and neurobiologist Victor Hugo Minces created this immersive sound sculpture. He’s a research scientist at UC San Diego and has published work about how neural networks in the brain represent the sensory world.
The webpage concerning Sound Shower features a video that shows how the sculpture can stimulate the senses of those who stand within it. Using a hammer, a subject strikes the large chime-like pipes and experiences sound as it “showers” all around!
I wish I’d understood the sculpture’s function while gazing at it a few days ago. If by chance Sound Shower is still there when I return to Escondido, I’ll try it out.
(Different sculptures have temporarily appeared in this same place. You might recall how I blogged about a star-like sculpture a year ago.)
(While reading through Victor Minces’ website, I’ve noticed he has another sensory sculpture installed near the WorldBeat Cultural Center in Balboa Park. I think that today I’ll go experience that one!)
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Cool San Diego Sights! 