The yearly festival will have a wide variety of entertainment acts to go along with games, rides
Just as it has every year since 1951, the Fiesta La Ballona will bring a party to Culver City, starting on Friday, Aug. 23 at 4:30 p.m., and carrying on intermittently until Sunday, Aug. 25 at 8 p.m. at Veterans Park, 4117 Overland Ave., Culver City.
This year’s fiesta will feature its signature carnival rides and games, along with rousing live entertainment that the Fiesta has become known for in recent years. Additionally, you won’t need to go far to grab a meal, as there will be food trucks and a food court, as well as a beer and wine garden for those guests who are of age.
For those looking for local wares, booths hosted by vendors and artisans will be present at the event for people to check out. Those looking for a slightly more summer-themed celebration can check out the Plunge into Fiesta events hosted by The Culver City Municipal Plunge, located directly adjacent to Veterans Park at 4175 Overland Ave., Culver City.
The event opens at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, with both food vendors and carnival rides remaining open to the public until 10 p.m. The entertainment tent doesn’t waste any time kicking off the festivities, with the LA Band Harbor Party playing the first set at 4:30 p.m. Harbor Party is a ‘yacht rock’ band, which is a form of soft rock originally known as West Coast Sound that was most popular in the mid 1970s to early 1980s, and was most famously played by the Eagles.
The official opening ceremonies of the fiesta doesn’t happen until 6 p.m., led by the Culver City High School Marching Band, The Santa Monica Oceanaires, and the El Marino Elementary Rainbow Taiko. Following these opening ceremonies will be a series of local teen bands getting a chance to shine on a live stage. First starting at 6:30 p.m. will be the band Vision, followed by Point Antagonist at 7:15 p.m., and Scuzz at 8 p.m.
Following this slate of young musicians will be a silent disco starting at 8:30 p.m. that will continue until the fiesta closes for the night, hosted by local business Joymode. Silent disco is a type of rave where the audience listens to music via headphones, instead of large speakers.
The Fiesta opens at 10 a.m. on Saturday, with food vendors and carnival rides opening. Artisanal and booths featuring non-edible wares for purchase will also make their Fiesta debut at 10 a.m., and all of these things will remain open until 10 p.m.
The entertainment tent will also reopen at 10 a.m. with ‘Family Fun Time!,’ a series of events for the whole family to get involved in. Starting at 10 a.m. sharp will be the Kelly School of Traditional Irish Dancing, a 35-year-old school based in El Segundo that, as the namesake implies, focuses on teaching Irish dance.
This will be followed by the second leg of the ‘Family Fun Time!’ event: Flat Foot and Fancy-Free with Milena Reed, a pairing that will combine traditional Appalachian foot dancing lessons with banjo rhythms. Finally, the teaching events end with Grupo Folklorico de El Marino, a program that brings traditional Mexican dance to CCUSD elementary and middle school students, making their appearance at the fiesta at 11:20.
The first performance of the day will come at noon from Jazzy Ash and the Leaping Lizards, a New Orleans Swing band with a unique focus on kids and families. Following that will be a Bulgarian Folklore Dance Ensemble by the name of XoroTroptzi performing at 1 p.m., then a more traditional country rock cover band in The Silverados performing at 2 p.m.
Ho’Aloha Polynesian Dancers will appear at 3 p.m., bringing with them a slew of traditional dances including hula, Tahitian, and Maori dances. The theme swings back to the Bayou at 4 p.m. with the Mudbug Brass Band, a traditional New Orleans funk and jazz band that embodies the Mardi Gras spirit.
The next act takes us back south of the border with traditional Mexican dance from Ballet Folklorico Flor de Mayo. At 6 p.m., a female Led Zeppelin cover band fittingly named Lady Zep will take the stage.
At 7 p.m., the fiesta will be graced with a kid-driven performance from On the Edge Dance Studio, and their hip hop focused ‘Dance Crew’ will be one of the vendors featured on both Saturday and Sunday at the fiesta. If you want to take a stroll over to The Plunge, there will be a ‘dive-in’ showing of ‘Into the Spiderverse’ also starting at 7. Finally, Saturday night concludes with a more contemporary act in Bumptown before closing the tent with the rest of the fiesta at 10.
While vendors and rides open at 10 a.m. on Sunday, the first act of the event tent opens at 11 a.m. with Cali Rose and the CC Strummers, a ukulele group from the Culver City Senior Center. Following this will be Jessica Fichot, a French/Chinese/American songwriter who incorporates all of those pieces of her heritage into her music.
At 1 p.m. will be yet another Mexican dance group by the name of Grupo Folklorico Macias. This will be followed up by Conjunto Oye at 2 p.m., sponsored by the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture. They are a group specializing in ‘nuyorican salsa’ based in the Nuyorican movement by Puerto Ricans in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
At 3 p.m. will be the Shingari School of Rhythm, a Bollywood dance school, then a 180-degree turn at 4 p.m. come in the form of Paddy’s Pig, an Irish rock band. 5 p.m. marks the final Mexican dance group to hit the stage, named Grupo Folklorico La Rosa, and the final act of the fiesta comes in the form of Kingston Ska Collective, a reggae, and ska group.
A program guide, which includes a map of the event and all scheduled activities, will be available at the Fiesta La Ballona Information Booth. Ride tickets come at a small fee, but admission to Fiesta La Ballona is free. More information is available by calling (310) 253-665
