On Saturday, Aug. 15, from 6 p.m. \u2013\u00a0midnight, the Little Italy Association (LIA) is inviting the community to come to Amici Park where they will be holding their next big fundraising bash, \u201cPompeii: Little Italy\u2019s Toga Party.\u201d There will be a VIP reception at 5 p.m. Guests are encouraged to \u201cbecome Italian\u201d and wear togas, strap on sandals, and enjoy local food and drink for the evening. Called \u201cFerragosto,\u201d the fourth annual event is LIA\u2019s take on \u201cFeriae Agusti,\u201d an event in ancient Pompeii, and will include circus rides, live entertainment and fantasy settings, including a Roman coliseum. \u201cWe are pulling out all the stops to recreate the historic Italian city Pompeii, where there will be non-stop jaw-dropping moments throughout the night that will have everyone talking for weeks,\u201d Luke Vinci, Ferragosto\u2019s chairman, said in a press release. \u201cThe event takes two years of planning because we make sure that every detail of the night is one that will be unforgettable.\u201d This year the beneficiaries are Washington Elementary School Foundation, Our Lady of the Rosary Church and the LIA. Food and drink participants include Isola Pizza Bar, Monello, Kettner Exchange, PrepKitchen, Cookbook, Bencotto and more. Tickets start at $105 (or $1050 for a table of 10). Visit ferragostosd.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n The annual U.S. Sand Sculpting Challenge & Dimensional Art Exposition returns to the B Street Pier for four full days over Labor Day weekend. The Pier, located at 1140 N. Harbor Drive, has been in the midst of construction on either side of it for the past couple of years and this may be the first year the streets will be clear for the event. Eleven World Master sand sculptors from all over the globe and nine Cool California Carvers will descend upon SAND iego (the organizers\u2019 new name for the event) to compete and manipulate 300 tons of sand into dozens of beautifully sculpted masterpieces. In addition to the sand sculpting challenges, there will be dozens of three-dimensional artisan booths, live entertainment, a dozen food trucks, Festival of Sail happening concurrently with the best view on the bay, sandboxes and rides for kids, and much more. A portion of the proceeds will go toward children\u2019s arts education programs. For a full list of entertainment, participating sand sculptors, food trucks and activities, visit ussandsculpting.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Gulliver and Christine Parascandolo, two local filmmakers, will be screening \u201cCosplay Dreams 3D,\u201d their new film that explores what goes on behind the scenes and the elaborate costumes every year at Comic-Con and other related events. The film, which recently won Best Documentary at the seventh annual 3D Film Festival, will be presented by Platt College at the Gaslamp Reading Cinema, located at 701 Fifth Ave., Aug. 21 at 7:30 p.m. The night will kick off at 6 p.m. with a red carpet event and pop culture show, with a Q&A with the filmmakers immediately following the film. Cosplay hobbyists and their unique stories will be profiled to reveal what it is like to transition between their costumed fantasy lives and their everyday lives. Cosplay Celebrities and other world famous Cosplay artists will also be highlighted. \u201cAs\u00a0filmmakers, we were immediately captivated by the idea of Cosplay even though we had no idea how popular it was when we started,\u201d said executive producer\u00a0and San Carlos resident Christine\u00a0Parascandolo in a press release. \u201cEach Cosplayer in the film is like a living, walking sculpture. This combined with the amazing environments that these events took place in, it was a clear choice\u00a0to\u00a0us that there was no better medium than 3D to allow the audience\u00a0to be fully immersed in the world of\u00a0Cosplay. When you see this amazing art-form, on the big screen \u2014 in 3D \u2014 you can’t imagine seeing it any other way.” For more information follow them on Facebook, \u201cCosplayDreams3D<\/a>,\u201d and watch the trailer here: bit.ly\/1Fo04vj<\/a>.<\/p>\n The annual Free to Breathe 5k run\/walk takes place along the North Embarcadero\u2019s Marina Park on Sunday, Aug. 9 stepping off at 7:45 a.m. This is the sixth annual event aimed at helping to \u201cmake surviving lung cancer the expectation, not the exception.\u201d All proceeds from the event will go to Free to Breathe, a lung cancer advocacy and research organization. The organization has helped raise more than $12 million in recent years. San Diego\u2019s 2014 5k raised over $37,000. This year\u2019s chairs hope to top that number at $43,500. \u201cFundraising for lung cancer research can help families think of survival in terms of years, instead of months,\u201d said San Diego volunteer event chair Jessica Evans in a press release. \u201cBy taking action in the Free to Breathe movement and fundraising, you\u2019re bringing hope and empowerment to all those touched by the disease.\u201d This family-friendly event will also include face painting, a one-quarter mile Kid\u2019s Dash and more. Fore more information or to see the various fundraising opportunities available even if you choose to not participate in the 5k, visit freetobreathe.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n To commemorate its installation of 30 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at its parking garage located at 707 Broadway, Downtown, Emmes Realty Services is offering free parking and charging to electric vehicles through Aug. 31. Emmes\u2019 707 location, situated near East Village, the Gaslamp Quarter and the B Street business corridor, offers the largest concentration of publicly available EV chargers in San Diego. The firm currently owns and operates four high-rise office buildings in the Downtown area. \u201cAt 707, we\u2019re focusing on innovation and creating a smart workplace for the future,\u201d\u00a0said Jordan Johnson, vice president at Emmes.\u00a0\u201cWith electric vehicles becoming more popular, we believe it is important to embrace this technology now … the addition of the EV charging stations also ties in perfectly with our strong commitment to sustainability and providing our customers with the highest level of amenities available.\u201d Those wishing to park and charge may do so by downloading the ChargePoint app and reserving a spot for up to two hours. \u201cBy 2020, 50 percent of the workforce will be in the millennial category and they expect amenities like EV charging stations from their employers,\u201d Kris Michell, president and CEO, Downtown San Diego Partnership, said in the release.\u00a0\u201cEmmes\u2019 charging stations are especially important because they are open to the public. So people who travel to our vibrant Downtown for work or play now have a place to charge their vehicle. It is exciting to have companies like Emmes help make our Downtown greener.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" LITTLE ITALY TO TRANSFORM INTO POMPEII On Saturday, Aug. 15, from 6 p.m. \u2013\u00a0midnight, the Little Italy Association (LIA) is inviting the community to come to Amici Park where they will be holding their next big fundraising bash, \u201cPompeii: Little Italy\u2019s Toga Party.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":237883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Downtown Briefs August 2015","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11552,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-opinion","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}SAND SCULPTING RETURNS TO WATERFRONT<\/h3>\n
LOCAL FILMMAKING COUPLE SCREEN ‘COSPLAY DREAMS 3D’<\/h3>\n
\u2018FREE TO BREATHE\u2019 RAISES AWARENESS FOR LUNG CANCER<\/h3>\n
FREE PARKING, CHARGING FOR EV THROUGH AUGUST<\/h3>\n