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45th Annual Cabrillo Festival
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - Cultures come together and history comes alive at the 45th Annual Cabrillo Festival, one of the oldest cultural events in San Diego. Cabrillo National Monument Superintendent Tom Workman, Cabrillo Festival, Inc. President Mary Correia and Naval Base Point Loma Commanding Officer, Capt. Paul Marconi, announced today that the festival will take place on Saturday, September 27 and Sunday, September 28, 2008. This year’s festival opens with a 16th century Spanish Soldier’s Living History Encampment, on Saturday September 27 from 11:00 AM until 4:00 PM, at Cabrillo National Monument, San Diego’s National Park. The half hour National Park Service film, In Search of Cabrillo, will be presented in the Cabrillo National Monument auditorium at 10:00 AM, 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM. The Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo and the Age of Exploration exhibit will be open from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM at the visitor center. The festival continues with a concert by Navy Band Southwest Brass Ensemble, Kumeyaay Bird Songs and a Commemorative Ceremony and Wreath-Laying on Saturday, September 27 at 4:00 PM at the statue of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo (Joao Rodrigues Cabrilho), located at Cabrillo National Monument. Historian Joseph Sánchez, Ph. D., Superintendent of the National Park Service’s Spanish Colonial Research Center and Petroglyph National Monument of Albuquerque, New Mexico, will give the keynote address. Because September 27, 2008 is National Public Lands Day, a “Fee Free Day,” no entrance fee will be charged at Cabrillo National Monument and all activities at the park will be free of charge. Beginning Saturday evening, the focus of the festival shifts from Cabrillo National Monument. The Cabrillo Discovery Celebration Dinner-Dance, sponsored by the Cabrillo Civic Club #16, will be held at the S.E.S. Hall, 2818 Avenida de Portugal, in Point Loma, at 6:30 PM. Tickets are $40 per person and may be purchased by calling 619-426-0769 or 619-221-8084. The main event of the festival is the Open House on Sunday, September 28, from 11:00 AM – 3:30 PM. For the third straight year, the Cabrillo Festival Open House will take place at Ballast Point, believed to be the actual location where Cabrillo landed on September 28, 1542. Ballast Point is located on Naval Base Point Loma, at the south end of Rosecrans Street. Admission is free. The Cabrillo Festival Open House will feature colorful displays of dancing, storytelling and music from Mexico, Native America, Portugal and Spain. This event features Mexican, Native American, Portuguese and Spanish food; Kumeyaay basket weaving; a living history encampment, where 16th century Spanish soldiers demonstrate the arms, armor, implements and daily life; children’s activities and the 2008 Miss Cabrillo Festival. The re-enactment of Cabrillo’s historic landing at Ballast Point, at 1:00 PM, is always a highlight of the festival. Narrated by television personality Jack White, re-enactors dressed as Cabrillo and crew will sail into San Diego Bay aboard San Salvador (the revenue cutter Californian from the Maritime Museum of San Diego, which is the official tall ship of the state of California), landing at Ballast Point and “claiming the land” for the King of Spain. A special treat this year will be the presence of La Victoria (the clipper schooner Lynx from Portsmouth, New Hampshire) in Cabrillo’s small armada. Confirmed for the Open House are: 11:30 AM - Danza Mexi’cayotl (Aztec Dance) 12:15 AM - Actor, Historian and Fulbright-Hays Scholar Abel Silvas (Juaneño/Diegueño Mission Indian) presenting his engaging, often tongue-in-cheek commentary as Running Grunion 1:00 PM - Re-enactment of Cabrillo’s landing at Ballast Point (narrated by San Diego television personality Jack White) 1:35 PM - Welcome of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo (portrayed for the 13th straight year by Donald Valadao), His Soldiers and Priest, the 2008 Miss Cabrillo Festival, and Introduction of Special Guests 1:45 PM - Portuguese American Dancers of San Diego (Dances from the Azores, Madeira and Portugal) 2:20 PM - Spanish Ballet of San Diego (Dances from various regions of Spain) 2:55 PM - Ballet Folklórico Cristo Rey (Mexican Regional Dance) Throughout the day, there will be basket weaving demonstrations by Eva Salazar (San José de la Zorra Kumiai Reservation) and the 16th century Spanish Soldiers Living History Encampment with National Park Service staff and Volunteers-In-Park (VIP) from Cabrillo National Monument. Staff and volunteers from the Barona Cultural Center and Museum will be on hand, throughout the day, to tell about their programs and the peoples who inhabited the San Diego area before Cabrillo’s arrival and their descendents. The Portuguese Historical Center will have an exhibit on Portuguese history and geography. High Tech High School will have a display of maps, photos and books from their research about San Diego Bay and its peoples, past and present. Local artist and muralist Carmen Linares-Kalo will exhibit Aztec art. The Maritime Museum of San Diego will have a display about the replica of Cabrillo’s flagship, San Salvador, which they will soon begin building, as well as an exhibit about the Maritime Museum of San Diego and its programs. The Morale, Welfare and Recreation Office from Naval Base Point Loma will be on hand with information about the Navy as well as memorabilia to sell. Confirmed crafts vendors, including Gourd Art of Old Town San Diego, Eva Salazar (baskets) and Bayshots Photography (photographs of tall ships on San Diego Bay, including reenactments of Cabrillo’s landing from past Cabrillo Festivals) will offer festival-goers the opportunity to purchase crafts associated with the peoples and cultures that are part of Cabrillo’s story. The 2008 Cabrillo Festival Art Contest entries, including contest winner Alyssa Carroll, of Ms. Anna Marie Howard’s fourth grade class at St. James Academy in Solana Beach, will be on display in the Cabrillo National Monument visitor center through the end of September. The theme of the annual art contest and the festival is Where Cultures Come Together and History Comes Alive, and entries are accepted from 4th grade students throughout San Diego County. Celebrating over 50 years of supporting Cabrillo National Monument interpretive, educational and scientific programs, the Cabrillo National Monument Foundation sells literature and related items about Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, 16th century exploration, the Kumeyaay and San Diego regional history in the bookstore, located in the visitor center. Visitor center and bookstore hours are 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM daily. Taken from the pages of history, the Cabrillo Festival brings to life the story of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese conquistador and explorer in Mexico and Central America, who spent his youth in Cuba. Cabrillo sailed for the King of Spain in search of new lands and wealth and helped establish trade routes between Asia and the Americas, playing an important role in the beginnings of today’s global economy. Traveling along the West Coast of Baja California, Cabrillo and his crew eventually reached what is now known as San Diego on September 28, 1542, where they were met by the native Kumeyaay/Diegueño Indians, also known as Iipay or Tipay. Unaware of the historical significance of his voyage, Cabrillo secured his place in history and now thousands journey to Cabrillo National Monument each year to commemorate the explorer who touched so many of the cultures of present day San Diego. For more information about the Cabrillo Festival, visit the Cabrillo Festival website www.cabrillofestival.org or the Cabrillo National Monument website at www.nps.gov/cabr/. Cabrillo National Monument, located on Point Loma at the south end of Catalina Boulevard, is open daily from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM. Public Transportation (#28 Bus connecting with the #84 Bus) is available from the Old Town Transit Center to both Naval Base Point Loma and Cabrillo National Monument, and visitors are encouraged to help reduce traffic congestion and emissions which contribute to global climate change by taking public transportation. For additional information call 619-557-5450, extension 0 or TTY 619-222-8211. |
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