These days, it appears the No. 1 free family event in San Diego is the street fair. A staple of nearly every neighborhood around San Diego, street fairs offer a day in the outdoors with music, food and vendors among the attractions. That said, little has changed over the decades about the experience. Now, a Point Loma-based musician, Lauren Scheff, and his website Scheff Music, is hoping to change that, offering the opportunity for taking in the event without leaving the comfort of home. This year’s Ocean Beach Street Fair and Chili Cook-Off was streamed live on the Internet for the first time, giving people around the world a look at the fun as it happened. Part of one of San Diego’s legendary musical families, which includes his father, Jerry (bassist with Elvis Presley, The Doors and others), and older brother Jason (frontman/bassist for Chicago, which performs at Humphrey’s on July 26), Scheff originally started out in 2007 with a view to help his brother. “Between tours, my brother wanted to play some small gigs but stream them live so that fans from around the world could watch,” Scheff said. “That started out the whole idea of a cool outlet to expose people to great bands.” In September 2008, Scheff launched his weekly show with his cousin, Donnie Dark, himself a mainstay of San Diego’s ’90s-era music scene, in bands such as Honey Glaze and Friends of Ghosts. “We wanted to bring attention to music with the show,” Scheff said, “things like going over an album track by track and showing what made it a classic. From there we decided to branch out and get live bands. I thought, ‘Let’s dive into the musical culture of San Diego.’” To that end,Scheff now broadcasts a weekly music show from his Point Loma studio, which now gets up to 22,000 views a night. A combination variety and talk show, guests have included Get Back Loretta and Joey Harris. While there are many music events in San Diego, Scheff considers the Ocean Beach Street Fair, to be the logical choice for live streaming. “Ocean Beach has been my playground, my backyard when I was growing up,” Scheff said. “When I heard it was the 30th aniversary, I wanted to contribute and volunteer and do something on my end. I wanted to stream it live so we could show the fair to the world.” The initial broadcast took in this year’s 92107 stage, using a stationary camera and a handheld one for interviews, which included Denny Knox, executive director of the Ocean Beach MainStreet Association. According to Knox, the street fair has had footage of bands posted on Youtube, and the annual local Jazz Festival was simulcast to New Orleans last year. However, this was the debut of live streaming of the street fair, with Scheff taking the proceedings one step further by conducting on-spot interviews with the bands, event organizers and attendees. “I was thrilled about this concept,” said Knox. “I loved the idea that someone could see the fair from afar.” Knox said the broadcast would appeal to tourists who wanted to see what the area has to offer, music fans and people who aren’t able to attend. “I had to work in the office the day of the street fair,” Knox said. “I really wanted to see one of the bands but was at my desk. So we went to live streaming and it was fantastic to be able to see it at the same time as everyone else.” Scheff plans to expand significantly by next year. “We put this year together in three days,” Scheff said. “We wanted to test the waters, but the plan is to set up multiple locations, with one live stream and pull live footage from the five different stages. “The goal is to have cameras hop around, so you can have the whole experience of the street fair versus just from one stage,” he said. The concept is evolving weekly.” For more information, visit www.iambro.com.