San Diego Weekend Guide: July 29-31 – Fairies & Festivals

By Editor, Times of San Diego

July 29, 2022

Haven’t been to the back country in a while? This San Diego weekend, try a day trip for festival fun or a taste of something besides the apples for which this local community is famed. Enjoy the best the arts have to offer too as one festival begins and another continues.

The Ramona Country Fair opens at 4 p.m. Friday for three days of carnival rides, games and booths, with live music and other entertainment too. Head out earlier on Saturday and Sunday – 11 a.m. each day. Admission is free, but ride tickets may be purchased online and parking starts at $10. At the Ramona Outdoor Community Center, 431 Aqua Lane.

The La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest 2022 returns to the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Opening night features “Side by Side,” with violin and piano quartets, as well as an interview with music director Inon Barnatan. The season continues through Aug. 26. Tickets start at $48 for this weekend’s performances. In addition, some day sessions and rehearsals are free.

How about a summer parade? The Transplant Games of America Parade along Harbor Drive at 9 a.m. Saturday, includes marching bands, balloons and floats. By the same organizers as the annual Holiday Bowl Parade, the event, to be streamed live at CBS8.com, heads south along the waterfront to Pacific Highway. The parade celebrates the Transplant Games, at the San Diego Convention Center and other local venues through Wednesday.

Westfield Mission Valley – at Camino del Rio North and Mission Center Road – hosts the first Hip Hop Carnival at 11 a.m. Saturday in conjunction with Origin Hip-hop Performing Arts Academy. The family friendly free event includes face painting, a dunking booth, games and dance classes and performances, the academy’s specialty.

For another mall option, head to Otay Ranch Town Center in Chula Vista for the free Art 4 Warriors Giving Gallery Day, also at 11 a.m. Saturday. Support veterans who are aspiring artists at the event, which includes exhibits and performances.

You don’t just pick apples and chomp on pie in Julian, though those are pleasurable experiences indeed. One sips there as well, hence the seventh annual Sip of Julian, hosted by the local Chamber of Commerce at 11 a.m. Saturday. Enjoy the best from more than a dozen of Julian’s beer, wine and hard cider outlets, paired with tasty bites too. Tickets start at $35.

The Rotary Club of Carlsbad hosts Wine Vine Uncorked at the Flower Fields in Carlsbad at 6 p.m. Saturday. The event includes 17 wineries, mostly from San Diego County. There will be wood-fired pizza, brewery samples and live entertainment. Tickets start at $75.

The fairy king and queen will reign at Balboa Park this weekend as previews begin at 8 p.m. Sunday for the Old Globe Theatre’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, part of the Summer Shakespeare Festival. Performances run through Sept. 4 with the official Opening Night set for Aug. 6 in the Lowell Davies Festival Theatre. Admission starts at $30.

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