by Noella Noelophile®
A lot of places are opening up. If you’re choosing to go out and experience them, please be careful, maintain your social distance and wear a mask. The Delta variant sounds scary.
For now, I’m going to focus on virtual options for family creative events.
Aquarium of the Pacific
While the Aquarium is now fully open, reservations are required for all. Please check their website, and make arrangements beforehand. Meanwhile, their August calendar also has some intriguing virtual opportunities.
Among the offerings that jumped out at me is Saturday morning, August 21st: “Underwater Artists”.
At 10:00 that morning, an Aquarium educator will introduce young creatives to various Aquarium residents, courtesy of live animal webcams. In this 45-minute session, the instructor will guide participants in creating art based on what they see, along with some fun facts about the animals and ocean science.
You’re encouraged to have your favorite art media (crayons, paints, drawing pencils) on hand at the start of the session. This is an ongoing series, with additional Saturday-morning sessions scheduled September through December. Cost: $10 per participant.
Family nights at home, Aquarium-style
Now, what if you’re looking for a family evening activity–and have some time to plan ahead?
“Aquarium Adventures at Home” series might be just the thing.
Monthly, according to the Aquarium’s website, they host a thirty-minute virtual event. Ahead of time, they’ll send you an “adventure kit” containing games, activities and materials related to their ocean-themed session. Then, at 6 pm Pacific time on the evening you’ve chosen, there’s a live Zoom connection with an Aquarium educator who’ll host the themed event.
The next “Aquarium Adventure”, themed “Tropical Treasures”, happens at 6 pm, Friday, August 27th, and you’re asked to book reservations online two weeks in advance. But if you missed the signup date, the webpage says you can call to book, then pick up your kit curbside.
Themes for future events include “Magical Marine Mammals” and “Animals After Dark”.
Cost is $70, but there’s a member discount.
Following the “Jackalope”
Like many other arts events, Jackalope Indie Artisan Fair has restarted its live events. They returned to their original venue, Pasadena, for a summer show in July, and have scheduled autumn shows in Denver, Minneapolis, Pasadena and Burbank.
Jackalope Arts’ curated, free-admission handmade show feature 150+ very talented local artisans. They frequently have “DIY” workshops as well. Strolling through to “just look” is quite the accomplishment. All the handmade clothes, clocks, jewelry, artisan foods and decor have a tendency to say, “You know you need this”! I can’t wait to go back and see them in-person when the variant is in our rear-view mirrors.
For now, though, they also have a “Local Undercover” virtual marketplace.
I relied on this for many of our Christmas gifts last year, and they were fantastic! I especially liked the wind chimes and earrings available, but you may find quite a few other new favorites. Better order early if you see something you especially like; a number of their exhibiting artists, at least last year, sold out their stock pretty quickly!
Virtually Dickensian
And—here’s your chance to think far ahead. And support a fantastic, family-owned business/event that’s so much more than just a Christmas tradition.
I’m talking about the Great Dickens Christmas Fair, in the Bay Area.
Last Christmas, with COVID raging, they presented “Dickens Fair at Home“. Online, they offered Christmas carol sheet music, recipes (including those cinnamon almonds that smell so amazing when you walk into the Cow Palace for the onsite event!) and, especially, entertainment.
Carolers sang standards like “The Carol of the Bells”. Artisans taught online workshops. Dickens Fair Zoom backgrounds were available.
They even had gifted actor Robert Young, better known, during the Dickens Fair, as a certain Mr. Charles Dickens, reading “A Christmas Carol” as a Christmas gift to viewers.
All of this was free! And, you can get a look at it at the above link. You can also hear the story of the Dickens Fair, courtesy of Red Barn Productions Executive Producer Kevin Patterson, who previewed the event in our 2020 audio interview.
Now, the Dickens Fair’s website has announced the cancellation of the 2021 onsite Dickens Fair event.
“Given the…highly transmissible Delta variant, we cannot safely produce our traditional live fair in 2021,” they say.
I’m so sorry–and unfortunately, I completely agree with their decision.
HOWEVER…
There are several varieties of good news.
First of all, the Dickens Fair says, “There’s magic afoot”. They will be producing another “Dickens Fair at Home” event this year! Here’s where you can sign up for their email list, for updates.
Secondly, the Dickens Fair requests, on their website, that you support the community of artists who’d normally be exhibiting at their live event. Here is a link to their page for online shopping (and wow, at the art glass and ceramics! Gorgeous, and I may just have to buy some of the scented soaps. Purely for research as a member of the media, of course).
And finally? They’re looking ahead to 2022! Stay well, stay safe and let’s hope we see them together, in the Cow Palace, when it’s safe to do so.