Tag: events

Spring exhibition of ikebana in San Diego!

Another perfect Sunday in San Diego. Another amazing ikebana Japanese flower arrangement show in Balboa Park!

The 57th Annual Spring Exhibition “Nature in Balance” by Ikebana International San Diego Chapter #119 was held this weekend in Balboa Park’s Casa del Prado. Even though I’ve been to many of these shows, I couldn’t resist walking into Room 101 to experience exquisite beauty that never grows old.

I’ve said it before. Every single ikebana flower arrangement is a visual poem.

If you didn’t make the show this year, go to the organization’s website and see what free exhibitions are coming up. Or become a member!

Here are a few photos…

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San Diego Square Dance Association’s Fiesta de la Cuadrilla!

Look what I discovered today! The San Diego Square Dance Association is hosting their 75th annual Fiesta de la Cuadrilla in Balboa Park!

The lively “round dancing” was taking place inside the Balboa Park Club building’s huge ballroom. Not only was the energetic dancing fun to watch, and the dance calling with a Western twang fun to hear, but there were exhibits off to one side of the room that concerned the fascinating history and culture of square dance!

As you can see from my photographs, beautiful square dance dresses and a variety of interesting artifacts filled many tables.

Thanks to Wendy for inviting me into the big event for a peek! Everybody participating was definitely having a ton of fun!

If you’d like to learn more about square dancing in San Diego and this popular event in particular (which continues on Sunday, March 23, 2025), click here!

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

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Literature comes to life at the Cervantes Festival!

The annual Cervantes Festival was held today in San Diego!

Families, students and lovers of literature came together at the International Cottages in Balboa Park to enjoy food, culture, art, and most importantly, the public reading of author Miguel de Cervantes’ world classic Don Quijote de La Mancha!

When I arrived around noon, foreign language students from El Capitan High School were reading excerpts from the novel in Mandarin Chinese! I noted that students from San Diego High School were also participating in the event, which lasted from 11 am to 4 pm.

The unique cultural festival, which I was told is in its eleventh year, was organized by the San Diego/Alcalá Sister Cities Society and Balboa Park’s own House of Spain. (Yes, food representing Cervantes’ native Spain included delicious paella.)

I took some photographs as I wandered about…

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

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660 plants added to Natural History Museum garden!

Today the Nature Trail at the San Diego Natural History Museum became much more lush and biodiverse. 660 plants native to the San Diego and Baja California region were added to the outdoor garden surrounding the museum!

I saw dozens of workers and volunteers this morning at work putting in the native plants. I learned that many new species (many of them pollinators) will now grow along this nature trail in the heart of Balboa Park.

This greatly increased diversity of plant life is fitting for a world-class natural history museum. I was told many more educational signs will be appearing, providing information about the new plants.

Wow! Look at my photos! The NAT has many helpers and volunteers!

According to one online description anticipating today’s event, experts from the Barona Cultural Society Museum, Tree of Life Nursery, Native West Nursery, City Farmers Nursery, and the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) will provide step-by-step guidance on proper planting techniques and native plant care.

I walked along the nature trail in the afternoon after the work was completed, and all the new plantings are amazing!

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

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Flowers remember tuna fishermen lost at sea.

Many beautiful flowers are now gathered near the base of the Tunaman’s Memorial on San Diego’s Shelter Island.

Last weekend, the annual Tunaman’s Memorial Mass and Celebration began at St. Agnes Catholic Church in Point Loma. A procession was then made through Roseville to the Shelter Island memorial where a service was held.

The many flowers remember tuna fishermen, particularly of Portuguese descent, who were lost at sea.

Even yesterday, almost a week later, the flowers were still bright and colorful.

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

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Cherry blossoms bloom around Japanese Friendship Bell!

The Japanese cherry trees are in bloom on San Diego’s Shelter Island around the Japanese Friendship Bell!

Beautiful pink cherry blossoms now surround the traditional bronze bell, forged in Japan and given to San Diego in 1958 by its Sister City Yokohama.

The Sakura Grove (sakura in Japanese means a flowering cherry tree) was planted during the Japan-U.S. Nationwide Centennial Cherry Blossom Tree Planting in 2012. A nearby plaque explains the grove is a living symbol of friendship between the people of Japan and San Diego.

In 2022, I experienced the sublime ringing of the almost two and a half ton Japanese Friendship Bell. That doesn’t happen very often. If you’d like to read about the bell ringing and see those photographs, click here.

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

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Antonio Garra Day returns to Old Town.

Antonio Garra Day is returning to Old Town San Diego tomorrow, Saturday, March 22, 2025.

Presented by the Pala Band of Mission Indians, the event will be held from 12 pm to 4 pm in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, at the First San Diego Courthouse Museum.

I attended the event back in 2020 (see the next photo) and learned Antonio Garra was a leader of the Cupeño people in Southern California who sought to organize tribes of our region to resist unfair taxation. Even though Native Americans were not citizens of the United States, a tax was levied upon their animals, property and agriculture. This taxation without representation was considered by many fair-minded people to be illegal and unjust. Read more about it here.

You can see my photos from Antonio Garra Day five years ago by clicking here.

This year, as before, Antonio Garra Day will feature traditional Bird Songs, inspirational speeches and cultural exhibits. Everyone is welcome to drop by and learn an important aspect of our region’s history.

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

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World’s most famous fishing boat to visit San Diego!

Western Flyer, the world’s most famous fishing boat, will be visiting San Diego on March 26, 2025, and you have the opportunity to tour it!

If you’ve read John Steinbeck‘s famous book Sea of Cortez, you’ll recognize the name of this fishing boat. In 1940, Steinbeck and his friend Ed Ricketts explored the Gulf of California in this very boat.

For decades the boat was lost, then it was found and restored by the Western Flyer Foundation. It now operates as a floating classroom, educating youth about the intersection of science and literature.

With a General Admission ticket, visitors to the Maritime Museum of San Diego will be able to step aboard and tour the legendary fishing boat as it makes its visit to our city!

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

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2025 San Diego Padres appear on Embarcadero!

The 2025 Major League Baseball season is about to begin. And look who has appeared on San Diego’s Embarcadero along Harbor Drive. Players representing the San Diego Padres!

Before the start of every season, new Padres player banners appear on downtown lamp posts. You can find the banners around Petco Park and elsewhere. Some of the banners inevitably feature new faces.

I took these photographs today.

Last year the Padres were arguably the second best team in baseball. They were a game away from beating mighty Los Angeles and going to the National League Championship Series. How will the team do in 2025?

Jackson Merrill 3
Nick Pivetta 27
Xander Bogaerts 2
Manny Machado 13
Yu Darvish 11
Fernando Tatis Jr. 23

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Feel free to share!

Dutch artist promotes healing in San Diego.

The first solo exhibition in the United States by Dutch artist Afra Eisma opened recently in San Diego. The Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego in Balboa Park is overflowing with her imaginative works that promote healing. The title of the exhibition is Hush.

As a sign at the gallery’s entrance explains: Dutch artist afra eisma transforms ICA San Diego into an immersive environment were healing becomes a collective experience. Through vibrantly colored tapestries, soft sculpture, and interactive installation, eisma creates dreamlike sanctuaries for mythological beings, animals, and otherworldly creatures to support and nurture each other…

Afra Eisma has created artwork to help process her own personal trauma. Hush not only encourages pause and thoughtfulness, but focuses specifically on the healing properties of breathing.

Much life, color and creativity permeates the exhibition. When I visited, I felt as if I were wandering through a strange, living fantasy world where all are welcome.

If you enjoy contemporary art, certainly head down to Balboa Park and step into the free Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego. Hush will be on display through June 1, 2025.

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

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