In an effort to give some much-deserved attention to local buskers and the art of street performing, Seaport Village will hold its first busker festival, wherein local acts are invited to showcase their skills and compete for a summer contract.
Seaport’s Spring Busker Festival, a free event set for Saturday and Sunday, May 12 and 13, will serve as a guidepost to gauge what type of entertainment San Diego wants to see, said Seaport Village marketing coordinator Megan Capizzi.
According to Capizzi, “busker” is a term used for street performers, whether they entertain by singing, dancing or even reciting on the street.
Usually buskers perform on the street to solicit money, according to wikipedia.org.
However, Seaport’s buskers won’t be asking for money but for votes.
In the spirit of the TV show “American Idol, “visitors will be given the chance to vote on which act they want to stick around. Capizzi said the act that garners the most votes will be awarded a three-month summer contract to perform at Seaport Village.
“The reason that we decided to throw a street performer festival was we wanted to introduce some new entertainment,” she said.
Mall officials also wanted to give local performers a foot in the door at Seaport Village.
“So we thought the perfect way to get some new entertainment in here, as well as give some local San Diegans some exposure, would be to throw the festival, then to have San Diego vote on their favorite so that we could go ahead and fill our entertainment slot with the crowd favorites,” Capizzi said.
In addition to the street performers, the merchants of Seaport Village will offer special sales and displays throughout both days of the festival.
“We’re going to have about nine buskers “¦ entertaining from 11 [a.m.] to 4 [p.m.] along with the stores,” Capizzi said.
She added that the show will feature interactive exhibits, “like the Village Hat Shop will be decorating hats and the Soap Opera will have hand cream demonstrations ” things along those lines.”
Ocean Beach residents Megan Fontaine and Derrick Gilday, or Mango and Dango as they’re known on the street, are set to showcase their skills at the festival.
Performing together for the past three years, Gilday said he and Fontaine have spent the last year or so traveling in their Volkswagen bus through Denmark, Switzerland and France, among other places, perfecting their street acts.
“When we found out about the one [festival] in San Diego, we jumped at the opportunity,” Gilday said.
The duo will appear throughout the weekend in three or four daily shows, performing acrobatic balancing acts, juggling, Hula Hoop dancing and physical comedy.
Gilday expressed his gratitude for the event, which provides a venue to showcase the talents they’ve been honing while traveling all around the world.
“In San Diego, there’s not many adequate venues for street theater, and plus there’s a lot of very strict laws “¦ so it’s difficult to find a location where you can go out and bring artwork ” live performance art ” to the masses,” he explained. “This busker festival really gives the entire community of San Diego a chance to come out and see these street performer acts that otherwise they wouldn’t be able to see.”
After watching the street performers, visitors will be encouraged to vote on their favorite act. Two voting booths will be available, in the east village and west village, according to Capizzi.
“It’s going to be very active; there’s going to be a lot going on, you’ll definitely be able to spend a very nice day down here,” Capizzi said.
Seaport Village is located at West Harbor Drive and Pacific Highway, adjacent to Embarcadero Park North, Seaport Village offers two-hour parking validation upon any purchase.
For more information, visit www.seaportvillage.com or call (619) 235-4014.