Meet me in Manhattan Beach

I’m making my Manhattan Beach debut this weekend (October 3-4, 2009) at the Manhattan Beach Hometown Fair. I’ll be showing my art in booth 252 in the Arts & Crafts section. Stop by between 10 and 5 and say hi!

The Manhattan Beach Hometown Fair is an annual event in the now-tony city of Manhattan Beach, California, the very same suburb of Los Angeles where I spent the entirety of my uneventful youth. Back in the day it was a sleepy little beach town full of surfers and hippies driving beat-up VW vans decorated with peace signs. The grubby little town is all grown-up and gentrified now, with wide clean cobblestone sidewalks and flower tubs and McMansions everywhere you look.

Anyway, they’ve been holding the Hometown Fair every year since dirt was new (OK, only 37 years). It’s a sprawling affair covering all of Live Oak Park plus a long stretch of Valley Drive and the median between Valley and Ardmore. You need to park a few miles away in a lot on Aviation Boulevard just south of Marine and take the free shuttle to the fair. Bring the kids, leave the dogs at home. The fair is very kid-oriented with all sorts of fun and goofy things for them to do.

Here’s a smattering of items I can see marked on the fair’s map: Beer garden, wine garden, chili cook-off, free games, children’s play area, free speech, giant slide, petting zoo, pony rides,  finger painting, wild animal show, velcro wall, pirates for hire, treasure hunt, magician, main stage & south stage, batting cages. You get the idea. Something for everyone!

Here’s the official Manhattan Beach Hometown Fair web site.

Meet me in Manhattan Beach!