Sarah Weaver
Staff Writer
The Mission West Street Festival in South Pasadena displayed paintings, sculptures, photography, jewelry, clothing, and specialty soaps from over 100 artists and crafters all in two short blocks last Saturday.
The festival, which was strictly limited to hand-made crafts, took place on Mission between Fremont and Meridian and was easily accessible from the Metro Gold Line.
The Gold Line is the 13.7 mile long light rail that operates between Union Station in downtown Los Angeles and East Pasadena.
The street fair Sandy Candy, owned by a University of La Verne alumnus, was among the booths.
It is an edible version of sand art and comes in colorful assortments of flavor.
A wine and biergarten was also available for those of drinking age offering three different import beers on tap and several fine wines.
The street fair also provided a live band playing jazz music in the park and five different food booths from some of the best local restaurants in the area.
Entertainment also catered to the younger crowd with plenty of things for the youngsters to do, including a petting zoo, pony rides, a moon bounce machine and a train ride.
Despite the overcast weather, the streets were full of eager shoppers. Merchants along the streets welcomed the street fair.
“Last year we got a lot of business from the fair; this year we expect to do a lot better,” said Christina Davis, who works at Chi-Chi La-La, a corner clothing and home décor shop.
“Last year was really dumpy,” Davis said. “They had fake Gucci bags for $20 and massages for five. This year they did a really nice job with the vendors.”
This year, the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce changed the vendor requirements to provide more upscale vendors.. Only vendors who made their products by hand were allowed to enter, forcing a more creative and artsy environment.
Another local store, the Chouinard School of Art, seemed to be reaping the benefits of the crowd.
Curious folks peeked their heads in to check out the art and took pamphlets showing the various art classes they offer.
Lucia Yang, known as the glass artist, attended the Mission West Street Fair for the first time.
“I made okay money,” Yang said. “I will probably attend again because there might be some interested in my custom made glass ware.”
Sarah Weaver can be reached at sarahulv@hotmail.com.
Journalism operations manager at the University of La Verne. Production manager and business manager of the Campus Times.