Calendar – Inland Empire & Southern California

Elton John and Tim Rice’s AIDA is a contemporary musical take on a grand classic tale of the timeless bond between an enslaved Nubian princess and an Egyptian soldier, playing at an amazing dinner theatre.

The Yucaipa Iris Festival has more than 80 outside vendors filling the craft and food area. Live entertainment in the outdoor amphitheater fills the air all weekend long. The Kids’ Fun Zone gets better every year featuring bounce houses, obstacle courses, Rock Climbing Wall, Midway Games and face painting to keep the younger attendees happy. Our Home & Garden Expo, featuring our local commercial vendors, is one of the main attractions of the festival.

The Yucaipa Iris Festival has been awarded Favorite San Bernardino County Community Event by the Press Enterprise Readers’ Choice 2005.

More than 250 artists and crafters from across the nation showcase their original works with a festive array of paintings, sculptures, ceramics, children’s toys, accessories, photography, textiles, outdoor furniture, jewelry, and more. Enjoy musical entertainment, a strawberry pie eating contest, strawberryland for the kids, a wine pavilian, amazing food, and a visit from Strawberry Shortcake!!!

Eleven days, 189 films and videos, arranged in over 60 program screening events for your moviegoing pleasure. Also on tap: filmmaker panels and seminars, special presentations and parties, and a whole lot more! Please see website for specific showtimes.

Enjoy an entire day of fun for the whole family. Ride trains and trolleys all day long, plus a special mini “Run One”* where you can “take the throttle” on a real railroad locomotive under the supervision of one of our instructors (* there is an extra charge for this activity).

There will be live bluegrass music, a special parade of Los Angeles trolleys on our “Loop Line”, children’s bouncy tents, handcar rides, exhibits from the Knott’s Berry Farm railroad as well as other special features.

There will also be food vendors on site for lunch. Both trolleys and diesel powered trains will operate on the mainline!

This is a gated event, admission is $15 for adults, $10 children 5-11. This price includes unlimited rides on the trains and trolleys*. OERM members have free admission.

Due to popular demand, and because we love all of our friends, fans and supporters, we’ll celebrate St. Paw-tricks Day on May 19, 2012.
8:00am Pancake Breakfast
9:00am Walk Start
It’s going to be a Dog-gone, kitty-licious day at Fairmount Park. Put on your walking shoes and grab your leash for a 1.3 mile stroll around Lake Evans. It will be a fun-filled morning for you and Fido to enjoy local vendors in the park.

An EggFest is a venue for Big Green Egg enthusiasts to showcase their talents on the Big Green Egg barbecue. It is also an opportunity for those who have been contemplating a Big Green Egg to sample the foods and talk to other egg enthusiasts. In other words the EggFest is a good excuse to get a bunch of people together and make some great food.

Exposition Park will soon be overrun with winged creatures and creepy-crawlies who are convening at the Museum, along with our scientists, for North America’s biggest bug festival. Nearly 70 Exhibitors Fill our Museum Halls! This year, the buzz is even louder because it’s the Year of the Fly. Visitors can cradle a bug or two in their palms and learn about the homes and habits of a wide variety of roaming insects from Entomology Curator Dr. Brian Brown (one of the Museum’s fly experts).

Meet the emergency crews that help keep us safe! Free in the Redlands Museum Parking lot, you will see fire trucks, police & sheriff cruisers (and motorcycles), search & rescue, police & rescue dogs, fire extingusiher training, plus animal adoptions!

See agility demonstrations and try a “Taste of Agility”, learn about CPR/1st Aid for dogs, disaster preparedness for dogs, there will be an American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen test conducted by AKC approved Canine Good Citizen evaluator/trainer, dog contests, Ask The Vet and Ask The Trainer booths, OC Sheriff Search and Rescue Bloodhound Team demonstrations, and much more.

Event Fee: no fee
Parking Fee: no fee
Age: all ages

Mason Regional Park
18712 University Drive
Irvine, CA 92612
949-923-2220 or 949-923-2222

Special Instructions: Go to www.cgc@akc.org to see the skills needed for the Canine Good Citizen certification. Certificates will be mailed to those that meet the skill requirements. All dogs must be restrained by a leash no longer than 6 feet.

Ten minutes east of Pasadena lies a land of imagination where jousting knights, regal ladies, saucy wenches and the court of a comely queen mix with today’s hipsters, history buffs, fantasy lovers and families. The Original Renaissance Pleasure Faire – the world’s oldest – presents its 50th season beginning April 7 and continuing each weekend through May 20th at the Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area in Irwindale, CA.

Visit some of Norcos best ranches & equestrian facilities in Norco. Talk to the Docent guides at each ranch, or take a break and ride a horse drawn carriage!

Join the cast from the Temecula Gunfighters, numerous visiting gun fighting clubs and other Old West costumed characters as they perform humorous skits and the high noon shoot out and robbery at The Bank. The weekend events include western exhibits, western music, trick ropers, calf roping demonstrations and an ICS Chili Cook-off on Sunday.

University of California Master Gardeners: 11am – 3pm | Fun activities and helpful information for the gardening enthusiast. | FREE with price of admission.

Meet hundreds of family members living, working & playing in Southern California’s only permanent Renaissance Village! Visitors to this 1450-1600 European Village are entertained, discover fine arts and crafts, and enjoy delectable food and beverages. The setting is the fictitious estate of the Baron Heinrich Von Lauffer, located along the Rhine river (aka Santa Ana River) between Mainz and Strasbourg.

Over the past several years, the Long Beach Lesbian and Gay Pride Celebration has become one of the premiere Pride events nationwide now attracting over 80,000 participants over two days. The Festival Celebration includes seven large dance areas including a main stage which has featured musical artists such as Grammy Award Winner Jennifer Hudson, Maya, and India.Arie.

The Santa Monica Festival offers an eclectic mix of live music and dance, DIY art workshops with recycled and repurposed materials, guilt-free shopping featuring earth-friendly artistic wares and local services offered by a variety of City, environmental and local non-profit organizations.

Friday, May 18 3:00p to 10:00p

at St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church, Anaheim, CA

Come to OC’s premiere Greek Festival: 2012 OC Greek Fest! Experience the sights, sounds & tastes of Greece & the best Greek food, music & dancing. Authentic foods & homemade pastry; traditional dancing & music; an outdoor marketplace with dozens of vendors and rides/games for kids.

Saturday, May 19, 2012 1:30- 3:00 PM

The passion of it all: love, loss, longing, courage, victory, hilarity, Mother Ireland, the emigrant mother, the fiercesome, strong, courageous women who have inspired some of Ireland’s greatest writers. Irish actors Sheelagh Cullen and Laura Solter take us home to the heart of this great Irishwoman in a wonderful afternoon of literature and song… Not to be missed! Presented in association with Kerry Records, Inc. and Hon. Consul General of Ireland, Finbar Hill.

ABOUT THE PERFORMERS:
SHEELAGH CULLEN (Actor) Born in Limerick, Sheelagh Cullen studied Modern Languages at Trinity College, Dublin, where she appeared with the Trinity Players. This whetted her appetite for a career ‘on the boards’ and she spent the next 3-4 years working with various Repertory companies in England, learning her craft. She then divided her time between Dublin and London, working in both theatre and TV. She appeared in several productions at the major theatres in Dublin, including the Abbey and the Gate Theatre. In Hong Kong, where she lived for many years, Sheelagh was a founder member of the ‘Actor’s Rep’, and was involved as either actor or director in each of its forty productions. Sheelagh has lived in Los Angele ssince 1991 and made her debut here at Stages Theatre in ‘The Bald Soprano’ directed by Nicolas Bataille of the Theatre de la Huchette in Paris. She continued to work at Stages in ‘The Chairs’, ‘La Bete’ and ‘Senor Galindez’, for which she won a Drama-Logue Award. She has also worked with Theatricum Botanicum, Shakespeare Festival/LA, the Odyssey Theatre and LA Theatre Works. For the last few years Sheelagh has been the narrator and storyteller in a series of Irish Concerts produced by Kerry Records.

LAURA SOLTER (Singer/actor) Laura Solter was born and raised in Ballymun, Dublin. She started singing at the age of four. Laura was awarded a scholarship to study voice at the prestigious College of Music, Chatham Row, Dublin; she was a participant and medal winner in the Feis Ahta Cliath and was the youngest member ever to be invited to join the famous Glasnevin Musical Society. Laura is very much influenced by singers such as Mary Black, Delores Kean, Ella Fitzgerald, Annie Lennox, Aretha Franklin, Kate Bush and her grandmother Lilly Browne.

BELLA ISSAKOVA (Celtic fiddle) Growing up in the rich Bulgarian musical culture, Ms Issakova had the privilege of working and touring throughout Europe, the Middle East, and the US with various orchestras and chamber groups and soloist such as Zubin Mehta, Christian Zimmerman, and in 1991 was the international scholarship winner for the Apple Hill Chamber music Festival in New Hampshire. After permanently relocating to Southern California in 1993, Ms Issakova developed a well established career in both performance and teaching. In 2000 she discovered and fell in love with Irish Traditional music. Since then she has traveled to Ireland and researched different regional styles. Ms Issakova has successfully incorporated her passion for Irish music into both the performance and teaching aspects of her career. Ms Issakova became a Kerry Records artist in 2005, and has toured with the group since. She currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia where in addition to teaching and performing classically, she has become a member of the critically acclaimed Irish Traditional group The Red Wellies!

Fee: Members $10/ Non-Members $15

Members may purchase tickets by completing the reservation form and returning it via email, mail or fax no later than May 15. Or tickets can be purchased on-site at the Bowers Museum Visitors Services Desks during museum operating hours, Tuesday-Sunday, 10:00 AM- 4:00 PM.

For more information, please e-mail: education@bowers.org or call 714.567.3677.