{"id":245634,"date":"2012-12-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-07T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/local-palooza-hits-t-32\/"},"modified":"2012-12-07T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-12-07T08:00:00","slug":"local-palooza-hits-t-32","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/local-palooza-hits-t-32\/","title":{"rendered":"Local-palooza hits T-32"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friends raise money for McKinley Elementary at annual event nestled between North and South parks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Por Morgan M. Hurley | Asistente de edici\u00f3n SDUN<\/strong><\/p>\n

Deep within North Park\u2019s sprawling closely knit neighborhoods and far off the traditional retail or commuter paths is an area bordering on the leading edge of South Park called T-32, near the corner of Thorn and 32nd streets. Here, over two dozen retailers are unexpectedly positioned, surrounded in each direction by houses within the bustling Altadena sub-division.<\/p>\n

\"Local-palooza
North and South parkS come together for SoNo (Photo by Morgan M. Hurley)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Sunday, Dec. 2, a holiday party to benefit the neighborhood\u2019s closest elementary school was a success, not only because it was for a good cause, but it was also equally compelling and satisfying to the school\u2019s hipster parents and their friends.<\/p>\n

For six hours, SoNo Park Holiday Fest & Chilipalooza brought live music, local craft beers and wines, gourmet food trucks, more than 30 local vendors, a huge kid\u2019s zone, 150 gallons of chili, and loads of attendees \u2013 6,000 to 10,000 \u2013 to one little neighborhood.<\/p>\n

The event sprawled west on Thorn Street from Bancroft Street to Herman Avenue and overflowed onto on 32nd Street. The fully enclosed beer garden encroached upon the northwest corner property shared by Ripe Deli and North Park Nursery, where revelers could grab a brew, mingle with friends and catch up with other parents while watching live music.<\/p>\n

Paul Hunyady, owner of the nursery and the adjacent Rusty Gold Design, said he was happy to support the event each year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile sacrificing sales, I am confident I have gained exposure for my business and ultimately raised funds for McKinley Elementary, which is what the event is all about,\u201d Hunyady said. \u201cNorth Park Nursery donated plants for centerpieces to be auctioned, as well as the beer garden space. I plan to do it again and again as long as we benefit the kids and community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even with the beer and live music, the heart of the event was still the chili, where this year 25 area restaurants and bistros competed in the annual community-based event that was started 16 years ago by San Diego Ceramic Connection (SDCC) proprietor Kouta Shimazaki.<\/p>\n

Hoping to grab the day\u2019s Best Overall Chili, Best Meatless Chili, Hottest but Edible, or Most Unique Chili, these local eateries came up with some of the most unique combinations presented. In addition to all that chili made by the professionals, there were also dozens of crocks of chili made by members of the community up for tasting, which were judged in the same categories.<\/p>\n

In order to sample the gallons of chili available, between 30 and 40 SDCC volunteers created chili bowls back in September, after which Shimazaki and his staff spent the remaining three months trimming, firing and glazing to perfection. This year, the yield was 1,300.<\/p>\n

That was up 200 bowls from last year and there still was not enough for the crowds at this year\u2019s SoNo. For $20, attendees could purchase a bowl and get unlimited tastes, but you had to act quickly as most were out of chili by 2 p.m.<\/p>\n

\"Local-palooza
Chili was served in SDCC\u2019s hand-made bowls. (Photo by Morgan M. Hurley)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shimazaki is the unofficial mayor of the area, founding not only the original community chilipalooza, but also the arts program at McKinley Elementary School, one of three programs that the annual SoNo celebration now benefits.<\/p>\n

Seven years ago when his son first began attending McKinley, Shimazaki said there was no art program at all. He began volunteering his time, clay and materials to his son\u2019s class at the school, carrying equipment and the students\u2019 projects back and forth to his studio daily. Eventually other teachers and parents wanted their children involved and soon the program expanded so much that Shimazaki, who teaches classes at other schools in the area as well as his studio, was forced to ask the principal for a room. She complied.<\/p>\n

With a room to call their own they now needed tables, chairs and art supplies, so Shimazaki and \u201cfive other good-hearted people\u201d founded the McKinley Arts Foundation, he said. Starting with a $650 budget in 2005, he and the other volunteers donated their time at bake sales, serving at Padres baseball games and sponsoring jog-a-thons to raise money for the school\u2019s art materials.<\/p>\n

Then, Shimazaki began donating 50 percent of money raised from his annual chili cook-offs to the school, every year.<\/p>\n

Eventually the school\u2019s Parent Teacher Club (PTC) got involved and the Foundation has since expanded to include support for music and Spanish language programs. Three years ago, Brooke Evans, then head of the McKinley PTC, came to Shimazaki with an idea to merge a struggling SoNo event they had been holding every year with the wildly popular chili cook-off he had started before.<\/p>\n

Shimazaki agreed, and to enhance its appeal, he reached out to friends Tim Mays of The Casbah and Starlite Lounge, and Sam Chammas of The Whistlestop, The Station and Live Wire to help sponsor the event. Shimazaki also approached musician friends to play for the cause, and this year they had 13 bands across two stages. They also tapped local parents to seek out the proper permits to close the streets and allow for expansion.<\/p>\n

Needless to say, the merger has been a huge hit, and over 100 parents and friends act as volunteers to help complete that success. Though the final tally is not in, Hunyady said this year\u2019s fundraising goal was $25,000, up from last year\u2019s $18,000 raised.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a neighborhood thing for a good cause, but unlike typical street fairs, our event is more interactive. People know each other; it\u2019s homey,\u201d Shimazaki said.<\/p>\n

With SoNo taking on a life of its own these days, Shimazaki has taken a backseat, though churning out 1,500 bowls in three months with an all-volunteer staff is no small task.<\/p>\n

T-32 is the area\u2019s business association, and they produce a monthly \u201cstroll about\u201d event every third Saturday of the month. You can find them on Facebook under T32 Thorn & 32nd.<\/p>\n

Chilipalooza winners<\/strong><\/p>\n

Professional chili cook-off:<\/p>\n

Best Overall Chili: (tie) Ritual Tavern and Blind Lady Ale House<\/p>\n

Best Meatless Chili: Rancho\u2019s Cocina<\/p>\n

Most Unique Chili: Urban Solace<\/p>\n

People\u2019s Choice: Kensington Grill<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

16th annual community chili cook-off:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Best Overall: Mine Okano<\/p>\n

Best Meatless: Patrick Murray<\/p>\n

Most Unique: Mine Okano<\/p>\n

Hottest: Ned Imming<\/p>\n

Best Dessert: Beth Waller<\/p>\n

Best Cornbread: Fong Krause<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friends raise money for McKinley Elementary at annual event nestled between North and South parks By Morgan M. Hurley | SDUN Assistant Editor Deep within North Park\u2019s sprawling closely knit neighborhoods and far off the traditional retail or commuter paths is an area bordering on the leading edge of South Park called T-32, near the […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":245635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Local-palooza hits T-32","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11550,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-top-stories","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245634","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=245634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}