San Diego’s colorful history will take center stage Saturday, May 9 as residents gather to celebrate the rebirth of Old Town’s engaging state historic park once known as Bazaar del Mundo and, most recently, its publicly unpopular operation as Plaza del Pasado. Renamed Fiesta de Reyes — meaning “celebration of kings” — the sprawling tribute to early California history will be marked by grand opening festivities from 1 to 9 p.m. throughout the courtyard and complex bounded by Juan and Calhoun streets. Among the activities and sights will be roaming performers, stilt walkers, jugglers and musical entertainment by one of Old Town’s highly regarded mariachi groups, Los Rios. One of the highlights of the grand opening will be “Zirk Ubu’s Circus and Traveling Medicine Show” — a one-ring circus that will feature a bearded woman, Flying Man, street performers Mango and Dango, a bed of nails, sword swallowing, mystical healings, potions and other forms of entertainment. The show takes place beginning at 7:30 p.m. Old Town San Diego Historic State Park is known for capturing the ambiance of California’s first European settlement as California was evolving from a Mexican pueblo to an American frontier town. The transformed Fiesta de Reyes will sport a very different look than San Diegans have been used to seeing, according Chuck Ross, president of the Old Town Family Hospitality Corp. that will operate the facility. “Old Town is important to San Diegans because, besides being the birthplace of California, it embodies culture and what it is that San Diego stands for as a whole,” said Ross. “We have been saying for some time that we wanted to create something new, something different. That is what we have done. “We have created a new look and a new feel with very different landscaping and ambiance than even many longtime San Diegans are used to seeing,” he said. “We think we have been successful because it has been perceived very well by those who have seen what we have done.” For more information, call (619) 297-3100, or visit www.fiestadereyesblog.com.