By Ken Williams | Editor

Craft beer gets an expanded presence at 19th annual Festival of the Arts in North Park

San Diego’s famous craft beer, food trucks and ethnic cuisine, colorful artwork, local musicians and dancers: This is just a tempting sampling of the 19th annual Festival of the Arts in North Park and a glimpse of why North Park is hailed as one of the hippest neighborhoods in America.

Coming May 16, the Festival of the Arts will close down the heart of North Park to street traffic as the enticing smells of kettle corn and street tacos waft through the air. This year’s festival is bigger than ever with even more things to do, including the addition of a second beer garden to showcase specialty craft beer, something San Diego is becoming globally famous for.

Angela Landsberg, executive director of the North Park Main Street organization that stages the popular event, said this year’s festival will easily be the largest one yet as organizers predict attendance will surpass 35,000 visitors from as far away as Orange County and Baja, California.

“What’s new this year? How about a live art expo,” Landsberg said. “It’s like a big graffiti artists’ party. Zipcar [the car-sharing company] is donating one of its vehicles to be painted out in colorful graffiti colors, and will be showcased around North Park and San Diego in the weeks to follow the festival.

“But that’s not all,” she said. “Delivery trucks will be painted. Dumpster bins will be painted. Everyday objects will be painted.”

The art theme will carry over to children and teenagers with a special stage set up for them to try their own hands at painting.

Also for the youth is the Young People’s Photography Contest with entries due by May 10.

Music and dance also construct the foundation of any arts festival, and this year there will be six stages devoted to those art forms. More than two dozen musical acts will perform at the Bar Pink Stage, 30th Street Stage, The Observatory Stage and Queen Bee’s Stage on Ray Street.

The Dance Stage will be set up on 32nd Street, highlighted by a troupe from Baja that will trek here from Mexico. More than 25 dance companies and 300 dancers will perform, including Visionary Dance Theatre, Alma Latina, Ballet Folklorico, Stage 7 and North Park’s Vernetta’s Dance Studio.

Landsberg said organizers splash into the local talent pool to choose musicians and dancers.

“San Diego has got so much talent in both those areas,” she said. “I’m just so happy we can showcase our talent, and for free, to our community.”

Festival organizers are noticing an increase in “local tourism,” which Landsberg described as people who come from nearby counties.

“We are hoping it will continue to pick up as a local tourism attraction,” she said.

Good examples of “local tourists” are the visitors who come up from our southern neighbor of Tijuana and other parts of Baja. Tijuana will go head-to-head with America’s Finest City, showcasing a popular Baja craft beer called Cerveceria Insurgente, stacking it up against well-known local craft breweries such as Stone Brewing Co., Mike Hess Brewing, Belching Beaver Brewery, Thorn Street Brewery and The Lost Abbey. Also noteworthy is the appearance of Hillcrest Brewing Co., the world’s first LGBT-owned brewery that has proven to be quite the hit in Uptown.

More than 30 local breweries will be on tap at the Craft Beer Block, one of the few events that cost money at the festival and is restricted to those of legal drinking age. A $40 ticket will get you 13 samples, 4 ounces each, of the locally-made craft beer that is all the rage. This popular activity will sell out quickly, so those interested are encouraged to visit the festival’s website to purchase tickets in advance. Only a limited number of tickets will be reserved for the day of the event.

The beers gardens, so popular that there will be two of them this year, are free to enter for those 21 and older. Here you can get a full pour of craft beer (12 ounces) from Stone, Modern Times and Mother Earth beer for $5.50. The first beer garden will be located on University Avenue and 30th Street near the Main Stage and the other on 31st Street and University Avenue near Urbn Coal Fired Pizza at the Bar Pink Stage.

Landsberg said the festival — sponsored for the second consecutive year by San Diego County Credit Union — has more food vendors than ever before, including cuisines such as Cajun, barbecue, Filipino, Mexican, Italian and East African. Ten food trucks will serve up their trendy menus, along with local restaurants such as City Tacos, Waypoint Public and Urban Solace also open nearby.

“North Park is one of the most diverse communities in America, and our festival tries to capture that diversity,” Landsberg said.

The festival originally got off to such a humble start in 1996, attracting only a few hundred people, she said. It’s safe to say that the festival today is growing and thriving.

The 19th annual North Park Festival of the Arts takes place Saturday, May 16, on University Avenue between 30th and 32nd streets. For more information or tickets, visit northparkfestivalofarts.com.

—Ken Williams is editor of Uptown News and can be reached at [email protected] or at 619-961-1952.