Harvest Festival Begins in Long Beach this Weekend

The Harvest Festival Original Art and Craft Show®, the largest indoor arts and crafts show on the West Coast, returns to the Long Beach Convention Center October 2-4, 2009 with unique products, eclectic entertainers and a full day of fun.

For over 37 years, the Harvest Festival’s unique shopping and entertainment atmosphere has enamored shoppers. The show offers thousands of distinctive, handmade items, including jewelry, photographs, sculptures, pottery, accessories, clothing, specialty foods and more. The products offered are the highest quality, as each exhibitor is subject to a rigid jury process to be selected as a featured artisan.

The Long Beach Harvest Festival has once again partnered with the Los Angeles affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, in honor of October being Breast Cancer Awareness month. The show will provide Susan G. Komen for the Cure® with half the proceeds collected from shopping bag sales and all the proceeds from the parcel check. To recognize the growing demand that food banks around the country are facing, the Long Beach Harvest Festival has also joined forces with the Good Provider Food Bank of Southern California and will hand out $2 off admission coupon to anyone who brings a non-perishable food donation to the show.

Besides offering products that you can’t find anywhere else, the Harvest Festival is also known for providing a very family-friendly environment and offers a number of entertainment acts that thrill audiences of all ages. Whether it is high energy dance numbers, a strolling Elvis on stilts, or spectacular puppeteers, customers can always count on an entertaining and fun shopping experience at the Long Beach Harvest Festival.
  What:     The Long Beach Harvest Festival Original Art and Craft Show(R)
  When:     October 2-4, Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach CA
  Hours:    Friday: 10 am – 6pm, Saturday: 10 am – 6pm, Sunday: 10 am – 5pm
  Tickets:  Adults: $9, Seniors (62+): $7, Youth (13-17): $4, Group
            (10 or more): $5, Kids 12 and Under: Free
  Info:     For tickets and information, please call 415-447-3205 or
            visit www.harvestfestival.com

National Public Lands Day -Saturday Oct 3

This Saturday morning The National Wildlife Refuge at the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station will host the event to remove invasive weeds and plant native vegetation.   

The stations environmental pprogram has been awarded a grant to restore a 3 acre area with native flowers, shrubs and and grasses in upland habitat  adjacent to the wetland.  This area is being choked out by invasive fennel, thistle, and mustard.  This work will create a much needed transitional habitata for native birds, reptiles, mammals and pollinating insects.

The project starts at 8:30 a.m. and will be completed by noon.  If you or your family, friends, or neighbors are interest PLEASE call the refuge office at 562-598-1024 and get your name on the list to be one of those working for a few hours this Saturday.   This will be a day you and your children will long remember and perhaps get you interested in becoming a regular docent for the refuge. 

Did you know that the  Naval Weapons Station is the ONLY national wildlife refuge in the five county area?  That it is home to the largest year round red-tailed hawk population in the Western U. S.?   That it is now the ONLY KNOWN burrowing owl population left in Orange County?  

The 911 acres of salt marsh was established to protect all birds but primarily the Least Tern and Clapper Rail.  Recently Green Sea Turtles have been found to be “nesting” in the refuge…and are a welcome addition.  The agriculture grown on part of the 5,000 acres contributes no pollutants or poisons to the refuge and actually contributes over $1 million dollars annually to benefit the refuge.

Don’t miss out this Saturday.  Call 562-598-1024 right now before you forget!

You’ll be glad you did!

Researchers Open Shark-Tagging Trip to the Public

Non-profit organization Iemanya Oceanica today announced that they are organizing a shark-tagging research expedition to Baja California in October 2009. The organization is actively seeking up to 20 scuba divers/snorkelers from the Southern California community as a means to educating consumers to the challenging processes of today’s ocean preservation efforts.

Departing the L.A. Area on October 15, 2009, Iemanya (pronounced ya-MAHN-ja, a Brazilian goddess of the sea), partnering with the CICESE Research Institute in Baja and Dr. Rachel T. Graham, world renowned shark scientist, will travel to a known population of whale sharks in Bahia de Los Angeles on the Sea of Cortez side of Baja California. Their goal is to apply satellite tags to 2-3 whale sharks during this 5 day expedition.

Iemanya executive director Laleh Mohajerani explained that “there are 3 reasons why we are gathering data on these animals. The first being to track their feeding, breeding and calving habits. The second reason,” Mohajerani continued, “will enable us to add them to the ‘family’ of sharks that we feature on our AdoptAShark.com website to expand consumer knowledge about sharks, and lastly,” she concluded, “these efforts play into a global effort to increase public awareness of the urgent need for protecting our oceans through selecting sustainable seafood in their diets.”

Whale sharks are the largest living fish species on the planet. They can grow to up to 40 feet long and weigh up to 15 tons. They can live up to 70 years, and although they have very large mouths, they are harmless, feeding solely on plankton, which are microscopic marine plants and animals.

This expedition will be filmed by professionals from Dokument Films in Los Angeles, utilizing their experience at increasing public awareness of non-profits through the use of professional productions for educational purposes.

Sponsored by Redondo Beach-based Body Glove International, National Scholastic Surfing Association champion Holly Beck will be joining the team to learn more about preserving the oceans in which she spends most of her time.

Additional details and application forms for this expedition can be found by visiting www.Iemanya.Org.

Seal Beach’s New Mayor – – in waiting

 

The proud parents, Tyler and Rebecca Rootlieb of Laguna Beach think their new son, born on 9-11-2009 are hoping their boy will grow up to be President of the United States or at least Mayor of New York.  

Grandparents Jerry and Janet Rootlieb of Seal Beach don’t want him that far from home, however, and are already planning his first campaign for Mayor of Seal Beach.  Jerry wants him to come from District One, of course.

                      One thing we can be sure of..he’ll get all the women’s votes – – right ladies?

National Football League Point Spreads for Week 3

NY JETS s                  Tenn  +2  1/2

HOUSTON                Jacksonville + 4

PHILLY                      Kansas City +9

BALTIMORE            Cleveland +13 1/2

NY  Giants                 TAMPA BAY + 6 1/2

Wash                          DETROIT + 6 1/2

Green Bay                  ST. LOUIS +6 1/2

MINN                         San Francisco + 7

NEW ENGLAND     Atlanta  + 4

Chicago                       SEATTLE + 2   (give the points)

New Orleans             BUFFALO +6

SAN DIEGO              Miami  +6

Pittsburgh                  CINCY + 4

Denver                         OAKLAND +1  1/2

MONDAY NIGHT

Dallas                          CAROLINA +9

* Home Teams all capital letters

** Best Bet  – In Bold Print (Go to archives to see previous ‘best bets’)

Kite Festival in Seal Beach October 4th

The Japan America Society of Southern California (JASSC), in coordination with the Up Up & Away Kite Club, announce Southern California’s largest kiting event, the Japan America Kite Festival , will take place on the beach at the Seal Beach Pier in Seal Beach, Calif., on Oct. 4, 2009, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It is free to the public and attracts some 10,000 visitors each year.

Japanese Kite Master Mikio Toki will visit from his home and kite workshop in Chiba, Japan, to display and fly his traditional edo-dako (traditional Tokyo-style kites constructed with washi rice paper and bamboo). Toki also will conduct free children’s Japanese kite workshops where every child can build and fly a sode (kimono-shaped) kite.

In addition to Japanese kites, the festival will feature more than 1,000 kites of all sizes, including Susan and David Gomberg’s giant 300-400 square-foot “Show Kites.” The Gombergs perform at 20-30 events each year and have participated in festivals in 35 states and 25 countries, including providing kite shows for Disney, the London Millennium Celebration, and the Super Bowl. There also will be performance stunt and sports kite demonstrations, synchronized kite “ballet,” as well children’s activities, including kite candy drops and other fun kids games.

Japanese cultural activities at the Festival will include sushi provided by Toro Sushi, the official sushi vendor for Angels Stadium; Edo Ame-zaiku (Traditional Japanese candy art); and cultural demonstrations such as Taiko Drum performance and Naginata (long handled, wood sword fighting).

Held annually at the Seal Beach Pier since 1996, the Japan America Kite Festival is free to the public, thanks to generous support from the Festival’s presenting sponsor, Mattel, Inc., and sponsor, Hitachi, Ltd. Other sponsors include Ayres Hotel, All Nippon Airways (ANA), Bogart’s Coffee House, Bridge USA, Kinokuniya Bookstore, Toro Sushi Bar & Grill, Yakult USA, Inc. and Up Up & Away Kite shop in Seal Beach.

About Japan America Society of Southern California

Founded in 1909 to build economic, cultural, governmental and personal relationships between the people of Japan and America. It is the West Coast’s premier educational and public affairs forum dedicated to the United States-Japan relationship. JASSC is a qualified 501(c)(3) nonprofit, charitable education organization and is supported by 120 Japanese and American corporate members and 2,000 individual members.

Coastal Clean Up A Success in Seal Beach

Seal Beach’s own “Save Our Beach” group cleaned up…literally last Saturday.

All told almost 150,000 pounds of trash was picked up by thousands of volunteers on Coastal Clean Up Day.  This is not just the trash on the beach but also the trash on the riverbeds…which was on the way to the beach when it got “delayed.”

“Save Our Beach” is a local Seal Beach group and they have been instrumental in getting locals out on the annual clean-up day. People come from far inland to help and even though there is more junk every year there are more Californians willing to be presses into service to protect our environment.  Over 1500 people were present at three local sites on Saturday.

Now, if only we could get the polluters to stop the dumping we could all take the day for some other worthy cause.

For the entire article go to: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/cleanup-trash-beach-2573677-one-volunteers

Seal Beach Wag N Walk

Saturday, September 26th is the annual Wag ‘n’ Walk at the Seal Beach Pier. The walk which will benefit the Seal Beach Animal Shelter is great opportunity for you and your pet to get out there and help other animals at the same time! Grand Marshals Justin Rudd (HauteDogs.org) and his bulldog Rosie will lead the parade starting at 10:00 am at the Eisenhower Park across from the Seal beach Pier.  Events included a dog walk, raffles, a SBACC Adoptable Dog Show, a training demonstration and contests for dogs and their people. 

Individual and Team registrations are now available online! Please click here to register online or you can print and fax a registration form found at the SBACC website. The Seal Beach Animal Shelter is also selling tickets for their Super Opportunity Drawing for which you do not need to be present to win.

To find out more information about the event or to register visit the event website here.

A “Nice” guy is saying goodbye to Seal Beach

October 9  its “Adios” for one of the city’s best employees. 

 Lee Whittenberg the Director of Community Development ….a catch-all  title that Whittenberg bore …. and sometimes got “gored” by … in his two decades in Seal Beach.

 Lee is a nice guy in a job that usually exposes the title holder to all kinds of abuse but Lee always appeared to have an armadillo’s skin and walked away from many battles with a tranquil smile.

 For the complete story go to: http://www.presstelegram.com/ci_13360095

Seal Beach Opens Eminent Domain To Secure Access at Riversend

The land in question is 21,000 square feet that would appear to be undevelopable.  It is where the city’s sewer line ends and a sewer clean out exists.  

The group that owns that parcel also owns the 10 acre parcel that used to be owned by the LA Dept of Water and Power.  And therein lies the problem.

When the Dept of Water and Power owned that little segment they gave the city right of access.  The group that bought the 10 acres also inherited the parcel in question and believe that the city’s access right ended at that time.

That owners group has been trying to develop a resort hotel on that 10 acre piece of land for about 20 years. The city, in the past, has shown an interest in such a development as long as there is substantial open space left for the community.  The owner’s group does not want to grant sufficient open space in the city’s view.

The attorney for the group said his client’s would donate the 21,000 feet to the city but apparently there was a caveat that the city would have to agree to approve the development the owners want to build their hotel complex, although that did not come up in Monday night’s meeting.

After listening to the attorney’s “offer” on behalf of his clients the council, without comment, voted that the city should begin “eminent domain”  proceedings to acquire the property.

Edward Selich, the Project Manager, implied quite strongly that they would fight the city’s offer for the land next to the sewer clean out and try to get more than 200 times what the city is expected to offer.

What’s Up In Seal Beach wants to congratulate the city council for taking the eminent domain position.  Too many city councils in Orange County have given way to threats and demands (which seem little better than blackmail) in the last 40 years and their cities have become shells of what they once were.

Seal Beach citizens have consistently supported those who want to keep our city as it has been for 100 years. A sort of “Mayberry by the Sea.”  Take a walk down Main St. any weekend and ask the visitors why they are visiting and the locals why they live here.  You know the answer.

Prepare yourselves folks.  This one is far from over and we’ll again here about: height limits, owner’s rights (over majority rights) apple pie and the Flag.   Just remember  one thing….. IT’S  ALL ABOUT MONEY ….and maybe just a little greed! 

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