What must it have been like for famed Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, the first European explorer to discover America’s West Coast, to step foot on Ballast Point in Point Loma on Sept. 28, 1542 and plant a flag claiming it for Spain?
Now you can stop imagining and re-experience the event the way it actually happened.
Fast-forward 472 years to the 51st annual two-day Cabrillo Festival in Point Loma on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 27-28.
The highlight of the annual historic festival, of course, is the re-enactment of Cabrillo’s landing on the shores of San Diego Bay with actors in period garb representing Cabrillo, his soldiers and priests landing and claiming the land. A Portuguese navigator sailing under the flag of Spain, Cabrillo discovered San Diego Bay while searching for the Strait of Anian, a mythical all-water route across North America. Shortly after he left what would become San Diego, Cabrillo died of an infection on the islands outside Santa Barbara.
“We’re going back in time and commemorating the voyages of exploration along the coast of California and Cabrillo’s arrival in San Diego,” said Idalmiro Manuel da Rosa, president of the Cabrillo Festival.
Da Rosa said the two-day festival also highlights the culture and traditions of San Diego’s 15,000 to 20,000 Portuguese.
“We have banners up and down Rosecrans Street,” said da Rosa. “The festival has the support of all local organizations, including the Point Loma Association, as well as the tremendous support of Naval Base Point Loma, which hosts the festival’s events on Sunday.”
Da Rosa said the festival is a microcosm of the American melting pot.
“It’s multi-cultural, multi-ethnic,” he said noting the event is done in conjunction with the local Native American Kumeyaay tribe.
“It’s also important to the Spanish and Mexican communities,” said da Rosa. He said, though, that while the Portuguese community remains “the backbone of the Cabrillo Festival,” its influences embrace much of San Diego’s historic and ethnic cultures.
The two-day festival kicks off Saturday, Sept. 27 at 3:30 p.m. with a commemorative ceremony and wreath laying honoring Cabrillo at the Cabrillo National Monument. The keynote speaker for the wreath ceremony will be Dr. Nuno Mathias, consul general of Portugal. The commemorative ceremony will be followed later that day from 6 to 7:30 p.m. with a Cabrillo Discovery Celebration Dinner-Dance at the Portuguese S.E.S. Hall, 2818 Avenida de Portugal in Point Loma. Sponsored by Cabrillo Civic Club No. 16 of San Diego and Portuguese-American Social and Civic Club, the event costs $50 per person. Tickets are available by calling (619) 426-0769 or (619) 221-8084.
On Sunday, Sept. 28, festivities continue from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a free Cabrillo Festival at Ballast Point, Naval Base Point Loma, at the south end of Rosecrans Street.
The multi-faceted festival features music, dancing, children’s activities and ethnic foods of Mexico, Portugal, Spain and Native America.
The Cabrillo Festival is a fun, family-oriented event with educational activities, cultural demonstrations and exciting folkloric performances celebrating Native American, Mexican, Portuguese and Spanish traditions from the Age of Exploration.
When Cabrillo landed in Point Loma in 1542, he had little or no inkling of its historical significance or that it would be celebrated forevermore as a landmark event or that Sept. 28 would be recognized as Cabrillo Day throughout what would become California.
For more information, visit www.cabrillofestival.org.