Noe Valley Voice May 2012
RETURN TO HOME PAGE
FEEDBACK

Short Takes

 

Carnival Time at Alvarado

Children and foodies can get their fill at Alvarado Elementary School’s annual Carnival on Saturday, May 12, from noon to 4 p.m.

Dunk tank? Check. Inflatable water slide and obstacle course? Check. Cake walk? Check, plus all the usual fair fixings, like face-painting, games, and balloon animals. Prizes will have an educational bent, says organizer Jennifer Ferrigno. Children will win puzzles, math games, and science kits, among other goodies.

In past years, the longest lines have been for the Central American feast managed by the school’s community advocate, Nancy Velasco. Velasco and other volunteers whip up agua fresca and cook the likes of chicken tamales and papusas on site.

There is no entrance fee, but cash or credit buys the $1 tickets needed to dunk, slide, and eat. All proceeds benefit the school’s academic enrichment programs.

Enter through the school’s cafeteria on 22nd Street, between Douglass and Eureka streets. For more information, go to www.alvaradoschool.net.

 

Know Your Budget

The Noe Valley Democratic Club will hold a “State of the City” meeting featuring local politicians Wednesday, May 16, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Philip’s Church.

The city’s Board of Supervisors will be represented by President David Chiu and by Scott Wiener, supervisor for our 8th District. Joaquin Torres, the director of the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services, will be the third panelist. Each will discuss city legislation and finances, and explore the impact that state and federal budgets are having on local resources.

After separate remarks from each panelist, there will be a question-and-answer period.

Club meetings are open to all, and refreshments will be served. St. Philip’s Church is located at 725 Diamond Street. Entrance to the meeting hall is through Diamond Street just south of the church or on 24th Street through the parish parking lot.

For information, email club vice president Molly Fleischman at molly@ffrsf.com.

 

A Bargain Hunter’s Paradise

The mother of all collective garage sales, the Fair Oaks Street Fair, happens Saturday, May 12, when five blocks worth of neighbors lay out antiques, books, furniture, clothes, computers, and toys for sale.

Bargain hunters can begin their search at 9 a.m. and find deals along the length of Fair Oaks, which runs from 21st to 26th streets between Guerrero and Dolores streets. Holy Innocents Episcopal Church at 455 Fair Oaks will also have a rummage sale in its basement.

Visitors can refuel throughout the day. Holy Innocents offers scones with strawberries and cream, and bake sales and lemonade stands are distributed among the sales. One neighbor on the 200 block spends the days preceding the fair making tamales to steam on the sidewalk during the event. Another fires up the grill, says Blair Moser, who has helped organize the fair since it started 36 years ago.

The event began as a benefit for Jamestown Community Center, a nonprofit that offers a range of services like academic and job counseling to Mission District youth. Though Jamestown is no longer located at its original home on Fair Oaks Street, the neighbors and the organization maintain a close relationship, Moser says.

This year, the street fair is hoping to cultivate a crew of new volunteers. “We need young families and new arrivals in the neighborhood—just one or two people on each block willing to donate an hour or two to help out,” says Moser.

If you’re interested in carrying the torch, email Moser at charlie.blair@sbcglobal.net.

 

A Night of Harvey Milk Awards

On Tuesday, May 22, the Castro Theatre will host a special screening of the Academy Award–winning film Milk, to benefit the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy at 4235 19th St.

Milk, the city’s first openly gay politician and the first representative of Noe Valley’s District 5, was assassinated in 1978. May 22, Milk’s birthday, is Harvey Milk Day in San Francisco, and the elementary school’s children will give away civil rights awards in his honor.

The evening will also feature appearances by Dustin Lance Black, the film’s Oscar-winning screenwriter; Ted Robinson, Harvey Milk’s speech writer; and Cleve Jones, who interned for Milk and later started the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.

The doors open at 6 p.m., and the program starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $15. VIP tickets cost $50 and include a pre-show reception with appetizers and drinks as well as reserved seating. Tickets can be bought online at www.brownpapertickets.com. Those wishing to avoid the service fee can purchase tickets at the Human Rights Campaign Store, 575 Castro St., between 18th and 19th streets.

All proceeds benefit the academy’s science, art, nutrition, and civil rights programs, as well as its after-school program. To learn more, visit www.friendsofharveymilk.org.

 

This month’s Short Takes were written by Heather World.