San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival is here DOWNTOWN — The San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival, Southern California’s largest culinary event, returns to downtown through Sunday, Nov. 21. With more than 170 wine and spirit purveyors and 800 wines to sample, even Bacchus would be riding back to his room in a pedicab, totally spent at the end of the day. The seventh annual event brings together thousands of wine and food enthusiasts from around the country for a week of classes, celebrity chefs, tastings and wine — lots of wine. New this year at the Grand Tasting Event & Chef of the Fest Competition on Saturday, Nov. 20, for example, is the Night & Day VIP experience including live demonstrations by artists. Featured artists this year include Christopher M. — “The Painter of Chefs” — and David Tyrone Villa, who created the official poster for the festival, the original of which will be auctioned off to raise money for scholarships for culinary students. There will be even more of an emphasis on promoting responsible drinking, with Bridgestone sponsoring a safe ride program — free shuttles that will transport guests to various locations around town. In addition, a selection of “mocktails” will be available, and a greatly-reduced ticket price is being offered for designated drivers attending the Grand Tasting Event. Though the week culminates Saturday with the Grand Tasting Event held at Embarcadero Park North behind Seaport Village, classes will be held throughout the week at the San Diego Wine & Culinary Center on Harbor Drive and Macy’s School of Cooking in Mission Valley. Another major event is the Celebrity Chef Luncheon & AIWF Big Bottle Auction, to be held at the San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina on Sunday, Nov. 21. The luncheon will include a live auction to raise funds for scholarships for the American Institute of Wine & Food. To date, festival activities have raised more than $150,000 toward educating the next generation of top chefs. Several of the region’s prominent names in cooking are returning this year to the festival, including Sam Zien (Sam the Cooking Guy), Deborah Scott of Island Prime and Indigo Grill, and Roy Yamaguchi of Roy’s. Events are for those 21 years old and older. Tickets range in price depending on the event, and discount packages are available for multiple festival events. Several hotels in the downtown area offer packages for festival getaways. For a comprehensive schedule, visit www.worldofwineevents.com. — Loralee Olejnik Hold On To Your Butt Awareness Day returns Saturday SAN DIEGO — In an effort to raise awareness of the cigarette butt litter problem and reduce the amount of cigarette butt litter in the region, Surfrider Foundation San Diego County Chapter will be conducting “Hold Onto Your Butt Awareness Day” on Saturday, Nov. 20 from 10 a.m. to noon at two locations in San Diego County. “Cigarette butts are the most littered item in The United States and the world,” said Surfrider San Diego Chapter coordinator Bill Hickman. Cigarette waste discarded miles inland compounds the problem as it can end up in drains that flow to streams, rivers, bays, lagoons and ultimately the ocean. Hold Onto Your Butt Awareness Day will involve activists, volunteers and friends of the environment gathering on San Diego’s busiest traffic intersections as people arrive at the beach. Surfrider activists will hold signs, pass out personal ashtrays, stickers and graphically demonstrate to motorists the problems Surfrider is so concerned about. Surfrider activists will be at Belmont Park in Mission Beach, near Ventura Avenue and Mission Boulevard, and at the Oceanside Pier at View Street. Mother Goose Parade scheduled for Sunday EL CAJON — The theme for the 64th Annual Mother Goose Parade on Sunday, Nov. 21, will be a “Salute To Heroes!” The parade will begin at 10 a.m. at the intersection of East Main Street and Magnolia Avenue. It will travel eastbound on Main Street toward Second Street. The grand marshals of the parade are members from both the Northern La Mesa, California and the Monterrey, Mexico teams that played in the historic 1957 Little League World Series Championship. The Mother Goose parade is considered the largest parade in San Diego County and the largest of its type west of the Mississippi. Each year, the parade attracts thousands of spectators to the streets of El Cajon to view the parade the Sunday before Thanksgiving. For more information, visit www.mothergooseparade.org. WEEKEND EVENTS Friday, Nov.19
Downtown • Jacobs Masterworks concert presents “Pines of Rome” with music by Rossini, Michael Torke (world premiere of “Cactus,” concerto for harp, violin and orchestra), Smetana and Respighi, conducted by Jahja Ling, Nov. 19-20, 8 p.m., Nov. 21, 2 p.m., Copley Symphony Hall, 1245 Seventh Ave., $20-$96, www.sandiegosymphony.org or (619) 235-0804 Pacific Beach/Mission Beach • Very Merry Bazaar, Nov. 19, 4 to 8 p.m. and Nov. 20, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., hosted by the ZLAC Rowing Club, 1111 Pacific Beach Drive, unique holiday gifts including home décor, clothing and jewelry, free La Jolla • Mommy & Me Yoga, four weeks to 1 year old 10:30 a.m., 1 to 5 years old 11 a.m., La Jolla Riford Library, 7555 Draper Ave., (858) 552-1657, www.lajollalibrary.org, free • San Diego Russian Music & Art Festival, 6 p.m., The Neurosciences Institute, 10640 John Jay Hopkins Drive, (858) 336-6284, free • UCSD Biologist Christopher Wills will discuss his new book “The Darwinian Tourist: Viewing the World through Evolutionary Eyes”, 7 p.m., D.G. Wills Books, 7461 Girard Ave., (858) 456-1800, www.dgwillsbooks.com, free • Spike and Mike’s “New Generation of Animation,” 7:15 and 9:15 p.m., The La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, 700 Prospect St., (858) 459-8707 • The women of Diabolus in Musica perform “Rose Tres Bele: Women’s Voices – Monody and Polyphony of the Trouveres”, 8 p.m., St. James by-the-Sea Church, 743 Prospect St., (619) 291-8246, www.sdems.org, non-members $20-$25, members $18-$22 • Indie pop band Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin with The Lonely Forest, 8:30 p.m., The Loft, 9500 Gilman Drive, (858) 822-3199, www.artpwr.com, regular $12, UCSD student $10, UCSD student member $5 Saturday, Nov. 20
Ocean Beach/ Point Loma • “Much Ado About Nothing,” 1:30 and 7 p.m., Salomon Theatre of Point Loma Nazarene University, 3900 Lomaland Drive, for tickets or information, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.pointloma.edu/salomontheatre, $13 for adults, $10 for seniors, students and military Downtown • Christmas on Third Avenue, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., hosted by the San Diego Woman’s Club, 2557 Third Ave., live music, food, free wine tasting and dozens of vendors from which one can buy unique holiday gifts. www.sandiego womansclub.org, free to enter La Jolla • Kelp Kornucopia, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Birch Aquarium, 2300 Expedition Way, celebrate a harvest of kelp with interactive kelp tank feeding show, (858) 534-FISH, aquarium.ucsd.edu, children 2 and under free, youth $8.50, senior $9, adults $12 • Chess Club for ages 25 and under, 12:30 p.m., La Jolla Riford Library, 7555 Draper Ave., (858) 552-1657, www.lajollalibrary.org, free • San Diego Independent Scholars meeting discussion by Daniel Steinberg, M.D., Ph.D., “Preventing Heart Attacks by Lowering Blood Cholesterol”, 1:30 p.m., Chancellor’s Complex, Room 111A, UCSD, 8500 Gilman Drive, www.sdscholars.org • La Jolla Historical Society Antique Brewery Fest fundraiser, 6 p.m. Wisteria Cottage, 780 Prospect St., (858) 459-5335, sample beer dating back to the 11th century and food from La Jolla’s best caterers, www.lajollahistory.org/events, non-members $90, members $75 • Evening of song with Lauren Smith, 7:30 p.m., The Neurosciences Institute, 10640 John Jay Hopkins Drive, (760) 632-0554, www.hutchinsconsort.org, students, seniors, $15, general $25 Pacific Beach/ Mission Beach • Very Merry Bazaar, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., hosted by the ZLAC Rowing Club, 1111 Pacific Beach Drive, unique holiday gifts including home décor, clothing and jewelry, free Sunday, Nov. 21
Downtown • Christmas Tree Lighting, 6 p.m., The Old Globe Theatre, 1363 Old Globe Way. (619) 234-5623 or visit www.theoldglobe.org, free Ocean Beach/ Point Loma • All Souls’ Music on the Point monthly music series, featuring organist Geoffrey Graham, 4 p.m., All Souls’ Episcopal Church, 1475 Catalina Blvd., for more information, call (619) 223-6394, $5 donation suggested La Jolla • Musicians in the Making: An Afternoon of Classical Music, 2 p.m., Astor Judaica Library, 4126 Executive Drive, http://sdcjc.lfjcc.org/, free