Mother’s Day weekend isn’t just an ideal opportunity to enjoy a Sunday brunch at one of the local restaurants like Don the Beachcomber on Pacific Coast Highway or at the Huntington Harbour Yacht Club on Warner Avenue near the intersection of PCH, it’s also the much anticipated weekend of the 47th Annual Sunset Beach Art Festival.
On Saturday, May 10, the Festival will run from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Sunday, May 11, Festival hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
There is no admission fee.
Look for the booths set up on the greenbelt between N. Pacific and S. Pacific Avenues between Broadway and 7th streets (or for those of us who prefer directions by landmarks, it’s one block towards the beach from PCH between Captain Jack’s and Surf Liquor).
The juried art exhibit takes place at the Firehouse Gallery on 12th Street (aptly named as it is the actual former Sunset Beach Firehouse).
Festival organizers promise live music and “over 150 artists and craft persons will display their wares.”
Which are also for sale, of course!
The Art Festival is a fundraising event for the non-profit organization Las Damas.
According to the Festival website www.sunsetbeachartfestival.org, “All proceeds go towards charities for the mentally ill, homeless families, and at-risk teenagers; as well as the support of Art programs in our local schools, scholarships for continuing education, and to our community (the renovation to the newly purchased Firehouse).”
If you get the chance, be sure to stop by the Festival this weekend and check out some great art for a great cause.
On animal control
Totally changing the subject, I read with interest the concerns expressed about animal control in Seal Beach.
This coincided with my experience trying to get the carcass of a rather large gray animal picked up off Heil Avenue last week.
I first saw it when I was driving by on Monday and when it was still there on Tuesday, I called Orange County Animal Care, which serves Huntington Beach.
I was told it was already on their “to do” list and someone would get to it as soon as possible.
On Thursday, it was still there. I called again and was told due to the severe wind they (understandably) had a lot of emergencies.
Since road kill isn’t going anywhere, it’s obviously a low priority, but here’s the kicker … they also said there were only FOUR Animal Services officers that day trying to cover all the areas they serve! That’s 17 cities and all of the County’s unincorporated areas: Anaheim, Brea, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Laguna Hills, Lake Forest, Orange, Placentia, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Juan Capistrano, Stanton, Tustin, Villa Park, and Yorba Linda.
Just driving from Anaheim to San Juan Capistrano and back can take up half the day.
Dana Point used to be one of those areas served by Orange County until the 1990s when residents organized and joined with San Clemente to push the formation of the Coastal Animal Services Authority to provide animal control and sheltering for the two cities.
I began my community involvement in Dana Point as a volunteer at the pro-humane shelter, and when I was elected to the City Council, I served as chairperson of the Joint Powers Authority governing animal services.
Having Animal Services officers exclusively serving just two cities bordering each other provided a significantly quicker response to calls, but there were still complaints that it wasn’t enough.
One of the most frustrating issues for residents and animal services officers alike are dogs running loose.
By the time an officer can get to the area where the dog was last seen, unless someone caught it and secured it, the dog is long gone with new calls of a loose dog in a different area coming in.
Adding more staff and vehicles costs an incredible amount of money to what is already a huge budgetary expense—it’s much, much more economical for cities to contract with Orange County, or as Seal Beach does, a larger city like Long Beach.
I’m not trying to justify or make excuses if anyone feels they are getting poor customer service from their animal control agency, there’s certainly always room for improvement, but the options and the funds for animal services are unfortunately very limited.
Lara Anderson is a resident of Huntington Harbour, former mayor of Dana Point, and a Broker/Agent with Coldwell Banker Beachside Realtors. She can be reached at 949-677-4099 or by email at LA@LaraAnderson.com.
