SoCal Spotlight

Photo ©2011 Kathie Zaccaria

SEA Days is a family-friendly program featuring multi-generational learning about cutting-edge Scripps Institution of Oceanography research. Monthly events focus on current ocean and earth topics with hands-on exploration, special activities, and the opportunity to interact with Scripps Oceanography scientists.

SEA Days also provides an ideal venue for students, scouts, and others to meet requirements for “Interview a Scientist” or career-day projects.

This summer SEA Days will focus on coral, sharks, and the San Diego Bay.

Saturday, June 15
Crazy for Coral
Dive in for a day of family-friendly fun as you explore the world of coral reefs. Meet a researcher from Scripps Oceanography who studies these diverse organisms. Enjoy hands-on activities, scientific exploration, and crafts for all ages.

Saturday, July 20
Sharks Celebration
Did you know that nearly 400 species of sharks swim the world’s oceans? Enhance your knowledge of these spectacular fish and their adaptations through hands-on activities. Meet local sharks and the Scripps scientists studying them to learn what you can do to help protect these important predators.

Saturday, Aug. 17
Bay Day
The San Diego Bay is one of our region’s greatest resources. Join us at our 2nd annual Bay Day to learn more about the diverse environments, inhabitants, and scientists working in and around the San Diego Bay. Visit with local non-profits and enjoy hands-on activities and scavenger hunts.

Programs are included with aquarium admission and take place from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. on the third Saturday of each month.

The Birch Aquarium at Scripps is located at 2300 Expedition Way in La Jolla. For more information, call 858.534.3474 or visit http://aquarium.ucsd.edu.

Maritime Museum. Photo: Maggie Piatt-Walton

Enjoy a whole day of nautical family fun at the Maritime Museum of San Diego’s Summer Family Day on Sunday, June 2, 2013 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. This special day all children will have the opportunity to plant seeds and decorate a pot to take home. A short cruise on San Diego Bay aboard the historic Pilot boat is available for only $5 plus the cost of admission. And best of all – kids 12 and under get free admission all day!

Special family day activities will take place on the Berkeley upper deck. Children must be accompanied by an adult in order to receive free admission. Only two children per adult will be admitted free. Pilot boat bay cruises are on a first come-first serve basis. Adults must have a paid museum admission to board the Pilot. Children cannot travel alone on board the Pilot boat bay cruises.

The museum is located on the North Embarcadero in downtown San Diego at 1492 North Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92101. The telephone number for general inquiries is 619-234-9153. Additional information can be found on the museum’s website at www.sdmaritime.org.

Faith Jensen-Ismay and Jerry Hager. Photo by Kevin Walsh Photography

Young Audiences of San Diego presents The Lady and The Little Tramp on Saturday, May 11, 2013 at 2:00 p.m. at The Vine Theater in the Bernardo Winery. The Lady and The Little Tramp blends mime, music and dance into a fanciful story reminiscent of the silent cinema era that featured one of films most recognized and memorable onscreen characters, Charlie Chaplin’s The Little Tramp.

The performance tells the story of a lady who wants to enter a dance contest and the adventures that the little tramp goes through to secure her place in that contest.

The Lady and The Little Tramp features Jerry Hager as “The Little Tramp” and dancer, choreographer Faith Jensen-Ismay as “The Lady”.  Singer, songwriter and author Larry Keough also appears as various characters. The Lady and The Little Tramp is a fun afternoon for the entire family and a perfect day of theater for mom for Mother’s Day weekend. Prior to the performance, cartoons featuring Charlie Chaplin will be shown.

Tickets are $10 per person and $20 per family (up to a family of four). Seating is limited.  For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Young Audiences of San Diego at 619-282-7599 x114 or e-mail: [email protected] or contact Faith Jensen-Ismay at The Vine at 858-243-1402.

The Vine Theater is located at the Bernardo Winery, 13330  Paseo Del Verano Norte, Suite 5, San Diego CA 92128.

Don’t miss the new seasonal exhibit Deadly Waters now at the Living Coast Discovery Center.

The Living Coast Discovery Center’s year-round animal exhibits typically focus on Southern California’s native animal species. But now, the Center is being transformed for the spring/summer season to showcase dangerous animals from around the globe with one thing in common – they all make their homes in and around “deadly waters.”

Visitors will have a unique opportunity to experience these amazing animals up-close – yet safely – and find out which ones really pose the biggest threat, which ones get a bad rap and which are just dangerously misunderstood.

More than a dozen new animal species are being introduced for the seasonal exhibit, joining the sharks, rays, eels and other menacing creatures that already call the Living Coast home. Some of the new animals that will make an appearance during the run of the exhibit include Red-Bellied Piranha, California Barracuda, Alligator Snapping Turtles, Poison Dart Frogs, Pacific Sea Nettles, Scorpion Fish, Coconut Crabs, Mantis Shrimp, Fuzzy Dwarf Lionfish, Zebra Morays, Emperor Scorpions and many more.

The Deadly Waters exhibit, which runs through Labor Day, is included with regular admission to the Center. The Living Coast Discovery Center is located at 1000 Gunpowder Point Drive, Chula Vista, CA 91910. For more information, call 619.409. 5900 or visit them online at www.thelivingcoast.org.

The multi-award-winning Billy Elliot the Musical comes to the San Diego Civic Center from April 30 – May 5, 2013.

Based on the international smash-hit film and featuring music by Elton John, book and lyrics by Lee Hall, choreography by Peter Darling and direction by Stephen Daldry, Billy Elliot the Musical has earned critical acclaim around the world and was the winner of ten 2009 Tony Awards including Best Musical.

Billy Elliot the Musical is the joyous celebration of one boy’s journey to make his dreams come true. Set in a small town, the story follows Billy as he stumbles out of the boxing ring and into a ballet class, discovering a surprising talent that inspires his family and his whole community and changes his life forever.

The production has been awarded 81 national and international awards including ten Tony Awards, Best Musical by the New York Drama Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Drama League and Outer Critics Circle.

Billy Elliot the Musical is most appropriate for children 8 years of age or older. It contains strong language and some scenes of confrontation.

For more information, please visit Broadway San Diego. The San Diego Civic Theatre is located at 3rd and B Street, Downtown San Diego.

Images courtesy of Broadway San Diego.

The El Cajon Library will celebrate the cultural diversity of its community and customers with the fourth annual Multicultural Family Fiesta, Saturday, April 13, from 12 Noon – 3 p.m.

The event will feature a wide variety of entertainment, international refreshments donated by more than 30 restaurants and markets, and an information fair with community organizations. The Fiesta will also highlight the countywide kickoff of the national El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day), a celebration of children’s reading, with a free book for youngsters and a visit by award-winning bilingual children’s author Mara Price. Nowruz, the Persian New Year, will also be commemorated with Middle Eastern entertainment and refreshments.

The entertainment line-up includes La Fiesta del Pueblo Ballet Folklorico dancers from Cajon Valley Middle School, led by teacher Juan Lopez; the USA Jump Stars championship youth jump rope team; the multi-award winning Arabina Middle Eastern dancers starring founder “Dilek”; young musicians from the Iranian School of San Diego; and a demonstration by the El Cajon Police Department’s K-9 police dog and officers. The El Cajon Fire Department will also be on hand to hold tours of a fire engine.

“We are proud that our library fiesta continues to grow each year, and is becoming a tradition,” said Nancy Saint John, Branch Manager of the El Cajon Library. “We expect more than 2,000 people to attend, and it truly brings our community together in our library, celebrating the rich cultures that make up El Cajon.”

The event is free of charge and the public is invited. The El Cajon Library is located at 201 E. Douglas Avenue. For more information on the Fiesta, call the library at (619) 588-3718.

Source and image: County of San Diego.

San Diego Tartan Day salutes April 6th, the date of the Scottish Declaration of Arbroath!  Their mission is to bring together the entire San Diego community with a taste of all things Scottish in our area. After all, “there’s a wee bit o’ Scot in everyone!”

The Tenth Annual Tartan Day Celebration will take place on Saturday, April 6, 2013, at the International Cottages in Balboa Park from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free!

Piping and Drumming will include the House of Scotland Pipe Band, kicking off the Opening Ceremonies at noon. Also on tap is the Cameron Highlanders Pipe Band for a combined show at 1:00 with the San Diego School of Highland Dancing. The rising generation of young pipers from the Naismith School of Piping will perform at 11:45 a.m., just before the Opening Ceremonies.

Traditional Highland Dancing will be featured by the San Diego School of Highland Dancing along with Highland Fusion and the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society of San Diego.

Scottish Music will have you tapping your toes and singing along with favorites Geese in the Bog, The Lacemakers, The Clovers, among others.

Regimental Marching will be demonstrated again this year by the 42nd Black Watch Highland Society.

Since 1998, April 6th has been designated by the U.S. Senate as “Tartan Day” in recognition of the contribution made by generations of Scottish-Americans to the foundation and prosperity of modern America.

More information about San Diego Tartan Day is available at www.tartandaysd.com.

The Encinitas Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee, in conjunction with the Leucadia and Encinitas Main Street Associations and The San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, are pleased to announce the upcoming Community Joy Ride, a free community bicycle ride to be held Saturday, March 23, 2013 at 11:30 a.m. beginning at Leucadia Roadside Park in Leucadia.

The Joy Ride is a roughly 9-mile ride open to riders of all levels, celebrating recent safety improvements made for bicyclists along the heavily-traveled and widely-popular Highway 101 corridor in Leucadia and Encinitas.

“For the daily commuters, recreational or expert cyclists, and even families wanting to
experience their downtown and scenic coastline on bikes, the new bike lane and sharrows are
long-awaited safety improvements for our community. We are grateful to the City of Encinitas
for making this happen and prioritizing safety for the citizens,” said Brian Grover, Chair of the
newly-formed Encinitas Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee.

The Joy Ride will follow Highway 101’s new bike lane north from Leucadia Roadside Park up
to La Costa Avenue, loop South down to the Cardiff Kook and back to Leucadia’s HapiFish/ Counter Culture restaurant located at 190 North Coast Highway 101. There the Joy Ride celebration will take place, including a raffle with great prizes from local bike shops and athletic eyewear companies.

Along the Joy Ride route, bicyclists will stop at participating bike shops including HI-Tech Bikes Leucadia, Nytro Multisport Encinitas and Ride Cyclery/Pink Peleton for raffle tickets, snacks and refueling goodies that have been generously donated. Spy Optics and Arnette Eyewear will also be donating prizes for the raffle.

The Joy Ride is free. To participate, just show up at the Leucadia Roadside Park at 11:30 a.m. on March 23rd. Bicyclists are encouraged to practice safe biking, obey all traffic signals and buy local in support of our local bike shops and other sponsors and businesses along the route.

For more information, visit the Encinitas Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee website or their Facebook page.

Image courtesy of Encinitas Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee.

Tinkering Studio at the Fleet. Photo c/o RH Fleet.

Families can discover how much fun learning science can be at Balboa Park’s annual Science Family Day, on Saturday, March 16. Kicking off the week-long San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering 2013, various museums and cultural institutions will offer science-related hands-on activities and special programs for kids of all ages. In addition, a DNA Moving Performance, featuring one of the world’s longest DNA models (created by area science students), will be paraded down the Prado at 11:45am. SDG&E will also be on hand to show the latest technology in electric cars.

Children 12 and under will be admitted free with a paid adult admission at participating museums (some restrictions apply). In addition, a free drawing at the Balboa Park Visitors Center will give away, among other items, a Family 4-Pack of Balboa Park Passports, tickets to a San Diego Junior Theatre performance, Old Town Trolley/Seal Tour tickets, two tickets to the San Diego Youth Symphony and the Conservatory’s Spring Showcase or Ovation Concert, and the Youth Symphony’s Live in Concert CD, and dinner for four at Barra Barra or Casa de Reyes from Fiesta de Reyes/Old Town State Park.

From March 16 to 23, the San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering 2013 will present programs throughout the county, culminating in the free Science & Engineering EXPO DAY at PETCO Park on March 23, which will feature dozens of hands-on exhibits and various stage performances. The event will take place from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00pm. For a complete schedule, visit www.sdsciencefestival.com.

All Balboa Park Science Family Day activities take place on March 16 from 11:00am to 3:00pm unless otherwise noted in the schedule below. For updates, visit www.balboapark.org/scienceday

Balboa Park Family Day Activities/Offers:

Children 12 and under are free with paid adult for general admission all day unless otherwise noted. General admission may not include special exhibitions.

Japanese Friendship Garden — Take part in science-related crafts for kids and grab some gourmet comfort food at the Ms. Patty Melt food truck from 11:30am to 2:30pm.

Marston House — Free admission for children 12 and under with paid adult admission.

Mingei — Free admission for children 12 and under with paid adult admission.

Museum of Man — Kids of all ages can experience what it’s like to be a real physical anthropologist as they compare and contrast bone features using replica bones and artifacts. Learn how forensic scientists identify bones and what they tell us about people, their age, and gender, and then test your own knowledge of human bones.

Museum of Photographic Arts — Walk into an oversized (9 x 7 foot) camera obscura, a device that led to the invention of photography, in front of the museum.

Reuben H. Fleet Science Center — Experience a full array of science exhibits and activities, including the debut of the Origins of Life exhibit, a parachute design experiment in the Tinkering Studio, a space rock detective activity for children 5 and under in Kid City, and an opportunity to test drive a solar-powered robot designed by the Robo Chicks. Also, free activities on the Prado walkway (see below). Free exhibit gallery admission for children 12 and under with paid adult admission. Children 12 and under can also get gallery + IMAX admission for $9.50 (normally $12.75). Adults pay full price for all admission levels.

Airplanes at the San Diego Air and Space Museum.

San Diego Air & Space Museum — At the Paper Airplane Festival, learn to create different types of paper airplanes while gaining insight into the science of flight. Then enter your creations into competitions for farthest flight distance, longest air time, and flight accuracy. Be sure to stay for the group launch in front of the museum at 3:00pm. Also, from 11am to 3pm, witness the first annual “Fly Your Ride!” competition finals, as middle school and high school teams from San Diego County jump their flying car designs over an ever-increasing gap inside the museum. Children 12 and under are free with paid adult; adult discount coupons available on website. Does not include admission to Ripley’s Believe It or Not. Discounted opportunities for children and adults to see Ripley’s Believe It or Not will be available that day to festival attendees. Please ask at the admissions desk for more information.

San Diego Automotive Museum — Traffic cones are not just for traffic anymore! Kids will discover how to use them in very unique ways as they share their “visions” of seeing them differently. Also, coloring sheets will bring out the inner car designer in anyone.

San Diego Floral Association—A special “Joy of Butterflies” event in the Zoro Garden includes butterfly crafts for younger kids, butterfly face painting, and a butterfly release at 1:00pm. Free admission for everyone all day.

San Diego Hall of Champions—Children 12and under free with paid adult. Also, free activities on the Prado walkway.

San Diego History Center — Children 12 and under free with paid adult. Also, free activities on the Prado walkway.

San Diego Model Railroad Museum — Kids of all ages can learn about alternative energy sources as they operate a train running on solar energy. Also, free activities on the Prado walkway.

San Diego Museum of Art — Museum docents will take visitors on science-themed tours of the collection.

Inside the San Diego Natural History Museum.

San Diego Natural History Museum —Behold the mysteries of nature’s creatures in theNAT’s newest exhibition, Dr. Entomo’s Palace of Exotic Wonders. Make a craft, get a tattoo, and uncover the science of entomology through hands-on activities with real scientists. Children 12 and under free with paid adult admission (includes 3-D films).

San Diego Youth Symphony — Listen to SDYS’s talented musicians at their free open rehearsals from 8.30am until 7pm in Casa del Prado, Rooms 205 & 207. Learn more about SDYS’s partnership with UC San Diego and its SIMPHONY study to track how music education affects children’s brain and language development.

Spanish Village Art Center — Families can learn the unique properties of clay and polymer clay in a special interactive demo, experience the science of paint as they paint small paintings or join in making a large banner together, and discover the science of glazes in a demonstration of glazing on tiles. Free admission for everyone all day.

Timken Museum of Art— Storyteller Harlynne Geisler will pair the life of the 17th-century artist Luca Carlevarijswith an Italian fairy tale, as visitors learn how to make a camera obscura, a device Luca used to help him paint. For children ages 5 and up. Storytelling at 11am only. Free admission for all ages;no reservations needed.

UNA International Gift Shop — Choose one free flag from a wide variety of countries (while supplies last).

c/o iStockPhoto

Travel around the world and learn about other cultures, watch traditional country dances, play carnival games and taste exotic foods at Riverview Elementary School and Lakeside Union School District’s 5th Annual International Fair on Saturday, March 16th from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

This fun-filled community event, complete with a silent auction, inflatables for the kids, photo booth, face painting, petting zoo and local product vendor and food booths takes place on the grounds of Riverview Elementary School at 9308 Winter Gardens Boulevard in Lakeside. All proceeds will benefit Riverview’s PTSA to provide field trips, assemblies, art, music and dance for Riverview students.

“This year’s theme is Everyone Smiles in the Same Language,” said Olympia Kyriakidis, principal, Riverview Elementary School. “It is a perfect theme for our school and this year’s fair. Every day our students are immersed in another language and learn about other cultures. However, they are often most surprised to discover that they have many similarities with people from all over the world”.

Since Riverview Elementary School offers Spanish and Mandarin Chinese immersion programs, the International Fair was created to allow students an opportunity to learn more about and celebrate other cultures. In addition, the International Fair helps raise money for the school allowing the students to participate in extra activities that are overlooked or cut during budget time.

“I hope everyone will join the Riverview students and the Lakeside community for this wonderful event that celebrates diversity” said Venus Rodvold, Riverview International Fair organizer. “The International Fair is a great way to help our students and for the community to learn about the fun and exciting cultures that exist around the world.”

For more information call (619) 390-2662, visit their website, or find them on Facebook.