Fairs, Festivals, & Fiestas Search
Chocolate and Chalk Art Festival
Fairs, Festivals, & Fiestas, Culinary & Wine, Kids Sat., June 1, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.510-548-5335
Nowhere do chocolate and chalk pair so well than at the annual Chocolate and Chalk Art Festival at Berkeley's Gourmet Ghetto (Shattuck Avenue, between Rose and Delaware streets), where artists transform the city's sidewalks into a veritable chalk canvas under the gaze of chocolate-chomping revelers. In addition to live music, kids activities, and vendors, this year's festival on Saturday, June 2, features unusual chocolate offerings including chocolate goat-cheese truffles, Caribbean chocolate soup, and chocolate ricotta pizza. Artists of all abilities can sign up for the chalk-art contest the day of the event and win up to $250 in cash prizes. Rain postpones to June 9. 10 a.m.-5 p.m., free. 510-548-5335 or AnotherBullwinkelShow.com
free9th Annual Ecology Center Family Fun Festival
Fairs, Festivals, & Fiestas, Kids Sat., June 1, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.510-981-5150
Summer is swiftly approaching, and if you can hear the sounds of bouncy houses and farm animals, it's not just your imagination. The Berkeley Farmers' Market's seventh-annual Family Fun Festival comes to Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park (Center St. at Martin Luther King Jr. Way) on Saturday, June 4, bringing with it a colossal variety of free, kid-centric activities: an all-day bouncy house, face painting, a craft booth, a petting zoo, and more. Grammy-nominated Caribbean artist Asheba performs at noon, followed by a family dance, a skateboard contest, and the obligatory cakewalk. Brace yourself. 10 a.m., free. 510-548-3333 or EcologyCenter.org
freeLive Oak Park Fair
Fairs, Festivals, & Fiestas Sat., June 8, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sun., June 9, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.Make a stand against mass production at the annual Live Oak Park Fair in Live Oak Park (1301 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley) on June 14-15, where local artisans aplenty display, discuss, and sell their wares. Meet jewelers, woodworkers, textile artists, painters, photographers, printmakers, ceramicists, and more. A continuous stream of live performers onstage includes Tim Fox, AnafaithLubliner, Rev Rabia, and Zappo the Clown. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. LiveOakParkFair.com
free
10th Annual Temescal Street Fair
Fairs, Festivals, & Fiestas, Kids, Social Events Sun., July 7, 12-6 p.m.510-860-7327
It's time once again for the annual Temescal Street Fair, which for the ninth year will stop traffic along a stretch of Telegraph Avenue in North Oakland for a day of food, drink, live performances, and other family-friendly revelry. This year's festival features a jam-packed lineup of performers across four stages, three stomach-stuffing food courts, and more than one hundred craft-tastic vendor booths. Among the many offerings to take in: a performance by the Kinetic Arts Center's young circus troupe, drinks from The Avenue and bites from Barlata, and crafts from artisans at the new Temescal Alley. Between 42nd and 51st sts. on Sunday, July 8. Noon-6 p.m., free. 510-860-7327 or TemescalDistrict.org
freeAlameda County Fair
Fairs, Festivals, & Fiestas, Kids Fridays-Sundays, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. and Tuesdays-Thursdays, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Continues through July 7925-426-7600
Last year, the Alameda County Fair made the Guinness World Records for producing the world's largest "commercially available" hamburger (it weighed in at a whopping 777 pounds). This year marks a less caloric (though no less weighty) landmark for the annual fete: the fair's centennial. Festivities are already well underway at the Alameda County Fairgrounds (4501 Pleasanton Ave., Pleasanton), but you can still catch events like the hot-dog eating contest on Wednesday, July 4; the diaper derby on Friday, July 6; and all the barbecued, battered, and fried delights that keep us coming back each year. Through July 20. Tue.-Thu. 11 a.m.-10 p.m; Fri.-Sun. 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; July 4 11 a.m.-9 p.m. $6-$10, free for kids under six. 925-426-7559 or AlamedaCountyFair.com
$4-$10, children under 6 freeLaurel Street Fair
Fairs, Festivals, & Fiestas Sat., Aug. 10, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.510-967-1255
It's common for street fairs to follow the same format of food and drink purveyors, arts and crafts vendors, and family-friendly street performers replicated in indistinguishable iterations at festivals across the US. Still, some fairs succeed in standing apart -- and the Laurel Street Fair (MacArthur Blvd. and 35th Ave., Oakland) is a good example. The thirteenth annual fest spans three blocks, featuring everything from a fashion show and flash mob to a classic car show and music performances by The Marcos Silva Quintet and other local acts. It also coincides with the final event in the illustrious Oakland-based soul singer Valerie Troutt's Laurel Pop-Up Series (3832 MacArthur Blvd.), which includes an impromptu choir, dance lessons, and art-making from noon to 5 p.m. On Saturday, Aug. 11. 11 a.m.-6 p.m., free. LaurelDistrictAssociation.org
freeThis Week's Feature
FEATURE
A People-Focused Solution
Restorative justice programs may offer the best new hope for reducing violence in Oakland schools and the city overall, but their future funding is uncertain.
