Hey there, I didn’t forget that I was gonna tell you about the San Diego Sicilian Festival. But first, a little bit of background on your’s truly - I luv festivals and parades - having said that I luv traditional, old world and european festivals. Well second to those are the parades and festivals back east; makes perfect sense to me since there are more european residents over there as well as generations that at least keep close ties to their ethnic homeland.
Ok, so I live in Southern California - SoCal, and as excited as I once was to attend a local festival or parade - I have been nothing short of disappointed. To the point where I just don’t enjoy going to them. And then we have the Sicilian festival, W E L L…should I give this festival a whirl at the risk of being disappointed - again? Risk I shall (see below).
At first I thought the idea of going to a Sicilian Festival would spark much interest in it being a family outing…ya know all 11 of us plus Liz & Mika (my should be SIL and my 5 year old niece). But once again as usual, as the event gets closer people start to “drop like flies” out of the plans. I really don’t get it. So off we went, just the 4 of us (Dave, Dominic, Cosette, and myself). We were heading down south to Little Italy in downtown San Diego. Passing through the charred hillside that was recently burned in a wildfire a few days back. When we arrive in San Diego, we found a clear blue sky, no smoke in the air whatsoever, and a lovely mild temperature of 68 degrees. Beautiful. We drove around for a bit looking for parking, passing and re-passing several of the same vehicles on the same hunt. Eventually we found a spot many blocks away and began the walk over to India street. Strolling the Jacaranda lined street and over to the festival. It’s quite lively and there are many booths lining the street - merchandise, travel, cultural associations and food vendors. An odd thing that we notice, is that most of the vendors are not Sicilian or even Italian! This definitely annoyed Cosette - she is a purest! As an adult, I understand that you have to fill the festival with whoever is going to pay for a spot. But it was just a bit odd that less than 15% of the vendors had anything to do with Sicily/Italy! (I only photographed the Italian ones. Hehe)
Ok, so I live in Southern California - SoCal, and as excited as I once was to attend a local festival or parade - I have been nothing short of disappointed. To the point where I just don’t enjoy going to them. And then we have the Sicilian festival, W E L L…should I give this festival a whirl at the risk of being disappointed - again? Risk I shall (see below).
At first I thought the idea of going to a Sicilian Festival would spark much interest in it being a family outing…ya know all 11 of us plus Liz & Mika (my should be SIL and my 5 year old niece). But once again as usual, as the event gets closer people start to “drop like flies” out of the plans. I really don’t get it. So off we went, just the 4 of us (Dave, Dominic, Cosette, and myself). We were heading down south to Little Italy in downtown San Diego. Passing through the charred hillside that was recently burned in a wildfire a few days back. When we arrive in San Diego, we found a clear blue sky, no smoke in the air whatsoever, and a lovely mild temperature of 68 degrees. Beautiful. We drove around for a bit looking for parking, passing and re-passing several of the same vehicles on the same hunt. Eventually we found a spot many blocks away and began the walk over to India street. Strolling the Jacaranda lined street and over to the festival. It’s quite lively and there are many booths lining the street - merchandise, travel, cultural associations and food vendors. An odd thing that we notice, is that most of the vendors are not Sicilian or even Italian! This definitely annoyed Cosette - she is a purest! As an adult, I understand that you have to fill the festival with whoever is going to pay for a spot. But it was just a bit odd that less than 15% of the vendors had anything to do with Sicily/Italy! (I only photographed the Italian ones. Hehe)
So, I had to pee pretty badly when we first arrived (another trend - lol). We were on the hunt for a porta-potty - gross I know, but when you gotta go and you’re not out in the wilderness - I’m not gonna just drop my pants in the middle of the street - so porta-potty it’ll have to be! As we searched for this portable restroom, we passed the first of a few stages. There was italian music playing, costumed performers,and people dancing in the street! We had to stop here - there’s fun to be had…forget my bladder! And fun I had. I loved listening to the music, swaying along, people watching - real characters in action! I just couldn’t get enough! This is where I needed to be! I was grinning from ear to ear, the kids were enjoying themselves, we were laughing, and making wonderful memories. What more could I ask for?! Eventually in the interim when they changed performers I finally went to relive myself. We continued to walk around the crowds some more, stopped at some more stages, listened to some more music and just in general took it all in. So I have to admit that this was the best festival that I've ever experienced (on the west coast)...and I’m not being biased! Go check it out for yourself! Andare a divertirsi - go have fun!!
One of my all-time favorite quotes:
“To risk is to risk appearing the fool. To weep is to risk appearing sentimental. To expose feelings is to risk exposing our true self. To place your ideas, your dreams, before the crowd is to risk loss. To love is to risk not being loved in return. To live is to risk dying. To try at all is to risk failure. But to risk we must. Because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The man, the woman, who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.”
( Emerson )
“To risk is to risk appearing the fool. To weep is to risk appearing sentimental. To expose feelings is to risk exposing our true self. To place your ideas, your dreams, before the crowd is to risk loss. To love is to risk not being loved in return. To live is to risk dying. To try at all is to risk failure. But to risk we must. Because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The man, the woman, who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.”
( Emerson )
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