Photos and Story by Lucy Wheeler

San Marcos CA—The kickoff of the first summer street fairs and festivals in North County began in San Marcos on April 9^th, 2017. It was hosted by the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce and the opening was an impressive one.
It takes a village to bring about an impressive street fair/festival. A village comprised of entertainers, vendors, food for all palettes, arts & crafts, fun participative activities for all ages, an active anticipative audience with good walking shoes as well as a host who diligently put all the pieces together. This is how San Marcos, ‘the valley of discovery’ led us through their streets to discover what an impressive fair is all about.
Even as the fair opened, eleven diversified, extremely talented entertainers and groups (some local and some nationally known) began their performances and continued one by one throughout the day. Each group led us into the discovery of their varied styles and talents.

Entertainers

The Vendors were equally as impressive, equally as diversified and many raised the bar on information available for different age groups, causes, educational opportunities and even helpful house hold tips. Educational ideas and opportunities from preschool, charter schools and colleges, plus services centers which provided informational discoveries for all ages.

There was an abundance of food for discovering new tastes for those with curious pallets.

In the arts and crafts arena, every booth was a discovery in its own right which included interesting passionate creative people with original ideas, new perspectives and expanding viewpoints.

And what fair would be complete without an arena for children to discover?

At the end of the day, tired though the participants were, the valley of discovery has opened the door for a great season of discovery in the North County Fairs and Festivals.