It is what it is and this spokesperson at least gives a cohesive reason why the parade should be disrupted.  Although I don’t agree with it in its entirety, something has gone horribly wrong where this once largely free event is now costing us a fortune to even view the floats after the fact at Victory Park.  Hell, even some of the floats charge “Volunteers” for the privilege of helping to decorate.  If they disrupt I fear they stand more to lose more potential followers than they can gain. Is this being naughty or nice is up for debate.

What I didn’t know is what a great little venue the Sierra Madre Playhouse is for such a play. It is small enough that you have an up close and personal view of the stage no matter where you are in the room.  The seats are nice and comfy stuffed theatre seats…though they are covered in bright red mouse fur.  Parking is ample and free near the theater.  One caveat, they don’t do assigned seating, rather its by cattle call Ala Southwest so you do need to be in line early in order to get the best seats.

I’ve been here in the SGV for many years and often heard of the Sierra Madre Playhouse, just never had the time to get there until last night for the short trek up the hill to see them.  If To Kill A Mockingbird is an indication of the quality production they do I’ll be back.  More information on Sierra Madre Playhouse’s presentation of To Kill A Mockingbird just pop onto their web link HERE.

After the games are done, there’s 3 kickin’ bands ready to turn it up for the party,with food and free beer for race challenge participants (21+). Enjoy the event knowing that proceeds will go to benefit the charity TACA: (Talk About Curing Autism) Bring friends, family, and gawkers; it’ll be a muddy, wild, and awesome time, all for a good cause!More details can be found at their Web Site.  Contest info deets after the jump.

What to do to win: Tell me in 25 words or less why you want to participate. The 2, yes we will have 2 winners, that give me the biggest grin with their answer will get to participate for FREE. Winners will be announced in a final comment on this post Sunday at noon, winners will be contacted at that time by me direct via email. In your comment make sure that you include a legit email address so I can contact you for your deets which wave you want to run in and shirt size to get you on the list.

You didn’t win but want to participate?  They are offering up to Blogging Los Angeles readers a discount code for use when signing up: GLADIATORZ10 (must be caps)! It will save $10 off of both the 5k and 10k for the Saturday, Oct 1st Run at the World Famous Rose Bowl.

Spectators are welcome. You will need to pay your parking fee at the Rose Bowl but otherwise watching the activity and cheering on the paricipants is FREE.

Deets: October 1, 2011 8AM first wave 10K, 1PM last wave 5K. MAP HERE.

All pics courtesy Jill Smith @ Gladiator Rock’ n Run and used with their permission.

This video showed up in my email this morning.  Not everyone in the SGV, include me among them, think that bears in our yards are a bad thing.  This homeowner had them in their Koi pond and enjoyed it tremendously.  They have the right idea, give them distance to stay safe and enjoy the visit the best you can.  Not all bear visits are bad news.

To save you having to follow the links here are the activities:

• Thursday May 12 7PM – parade on Myrtle Avenue between Chestnut and Palm.
• Friday May 13 Family Festival and Farmers Market, a weekly to-do that includes farm fresh produce, kiddie rides and jumpers along with a flea market craft fair, yeah that’s what I mean, a craft fair.  There is a golf tournament to benefit the YMCA but have no details to share.
• Saturday May 14 a lot is going on and will try to put all together.  7AM is the Fire Fighters Pancake breakfast as well as the start of the Fountain to the Fall Walk/Run in Library Park.  10AM-6PM is the Festivities that include a concert in Library Park and will be the center of activity for the day.  MAP HERE. Also all day Saturday the merchants in Old Town will be sponsoring all sorts of activities such as Samson the Bear Scavenger Hunts, Face painting, Cupcake contests with most of the restaurants having Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner specials.

Parking can get tight when Old Town is busy.  There are ample public lots close to Library Park but I anticipate them filling fast. There are lots on Colorado west of Myrtle in the Colorado Commons that don’t fill up too fast.  Ditto new garage next to the Paragon Apts just east of Myrtle at Olive.  I wish I could tell you we had mass transit options to get here but the Gold Line is still years away for us.

Meet Evan Cook, the Monrovia Association of Fine Art’s Student Artist of the Year.  I have to admit the funnest part of being in MAFA is to find young talent and help recognize them and foster their interest in creating art.  Watching Evan grow into his art the last few years has been fun and certainly he has grown tremendously under the mentoring of his teacher at MHS, Sal Perez, and his employer Lisa Barrios of the Paint n Play Art Studio and Gallery.  At Paint n Play Evan both shows his work and gives lessons on the potters wheel and ceramics.

More about him in the Fine Art Trekkin’ Monrovia blog post by Ginger Van Hook.  (She also made this interview video with Evan).

Evan will receive his award at tonight’s Acknowledge the Arts event.  This event is MAFA’s fund raiser for the year.  Also receiving awards tonight is Clarence Shaw – Renaissance Award, Doug Gordon – Heart in the Arts Award.  Clarence is a City Council Member that supports programs that help bring art to the community and schools.  Doug Gordon receives his award for all he does to keep MAFA up and running during the course of the year, especially his long hours in keeping our web site up and running.

If you have any interest in attending you can save yourself a few bucks by purchasing your tickets in advance at the MAFA web site.  They cost $35 in advance or $50 at the door.  That includes munchies, beer, wine and “artinis”.

Details: Acknowledge the Arts, 7-10PM Krikorian Theater, 410 S Myrtle Avenue, Monrovia CA 91016

Disclosure…if you have forgotten I serve as Veep and am on the board of the Monrovia Association of Fine Arts.

This particular bear is “Samson the Tourist Bear” and is done by local Artist Rick Kess. Rick is an artist that works at Disney making the floats for the parade. His bear took nearly 2 weeks to complete. Like all of the artists Rick started with a basic fiberglass bear which he embellished, a lot, before applying paint. The complete embellishment process can be found in my flickr set. All these images get bigger with a click.

Square Dancing Roller Skaters

The Parade that is a party…the random nearly-annual Doo Dah Parade takes place in East Pasadena on Saturday April 30.  None of the usual stuffiness of the Rose Parade, this is a totally irreverent event that I just adore.  Its a lot silliness, a lot of politically incorrect and just plain fun to watch it stroll on by.

The party is set to start 11 am-ish.  It will start at the corner of  Vinedo and Colorado Blvds (MAP HERE).  The parade will march down one side of Colorado Blvd westerly to Altadena then turn around and go east on the other side to San Gabriel Blvd.  At San Gabriel the parade again turns around to go west back to Vinedo Ave.

There are multiple parties going on after the parade.  The big official party will be at the American Legion Hall at  179 N Vinedo St (2 Blocks north of the parade route).  All the info you could want on the parade and after party HERE on the official web site.

Do arrive early as the spectator space fills fast. Sorry, but there is limited public transpo into the parade site and traffic does get nasty around there.

There will be dancing in the street with music provided by Mariachi Divas, Delgado Brothers, Los Fabulocos and Banda Brothers.  There will also be artists and dancers in the event as well sharing their art.

Deets: Sunday May 1, 2011 2-8PM, Colorado and Myrtle Avenue, Monrovia CA MAP HERE