The La Jolla Shores Association is gearing up for a special art-centric event on Saturday, June 21.
“Tides of Creativity” will highlight artists and authors from across The Shores, as well as an array of local businesses. It also is expected to include chalk art, painting, bounce houses, face painting, pony rides and a raffle.
The date of the event, originally announced as May 17, was changed to give organizers additional time to prepare.
Shores Association President John Pierce is looking to the community for artistic contributions.
“We’re going to be locating specific vendors for each of the things I mentioned, which we haven’t done yet, so that part will be coming,” Pierce told the La Jolla Light this week. “But also we need local artists and authors who want to be part of this to come forward and volunteer.”
Artists and authors who want to get involved can email [email protected].
Also to be firmed up is the event’s location. The current plan is to have booths along Avenida de la Playa between Calle de la Plata and Paseo del Ocaso, including Laureate Park.
Pierce teamed with the La Jolla Shores Business Association to connect with the city’s Special Events & Filming Department and apply for permits. That process is continuing.
Darren Moore, owner of several restaurants in La Jolla, including Shore Rider, Dough Momma Pizzeria and Cove House, has taken the role of communicating with local business owners for “Tides of Creativity.”
The festivities can give the community a boost after the COVID-19 pandemic halted many such events, Moore said.
“It’s about time we kind of started cranking a little bit to get the neighborhood back together,” Moore said. “John … approached the La Jolla Shores Business Association to do a kind of collab for the neighborhood, and I thought it was a great idea.
“My hope would just be that it adds value to an already awesome community and gives a chance for people to get out and have some fun.”
Pierce said he expects LJSA’s newly formed ad hoc committee promoting “fun, hip and visibility” to get involved in the project.
Though organizers don’t have a particular attendance goal for the event, Pierce said they are preparing as if there will be “a few thousand.”
Their primary goals, he said, lie in community engagement and potential fundraising opportunities.
The La Jolla Shores Association is using a $7,500 grant initiated by state Sen. Toni Atkins before she left office last fall and istered by the city of San Diego in partnership with the area Business Improvement District Alliance.
LJSA isn’t the only La Jolla group to receive such a grant recently.
The Bird Rock Community Council received $10,000, also initiated by Atkins before she left office, to help pay for last year’s BirdStock, an annual free music festival that assembles musicians and merchants from around the area.
BRCC plans to submit a grant application for BirdStock 2025, which is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 25.
Pierce said LJSA is “ecstatic and extremely grateful [for] being able to secure funds, especially in an environment where a lot of funding has been cut back. To be able to do something for the community, to bring people together, is the best-case scenario.” ♦
