ARCADIA, Calif. – Downtown Arcadia will launch a new street fair July 3 with a patriotic festival kicking off the first night’s festivities.
On June 2 the Arcadia City Council unanimously approved the new weekly event that has been in Monrovia for 23 years to now be staged from 5-9 p.m. on Fridays in Arcadia on First Avenue from Huntington Drive north past Wheeler Avenue to near Santa Clara Street by 24 Hour Fitness.
To kick off the event, a simultaneous Patriotic Festival will be staged around the corner by the Downtown Arcadia Improvement Association as the first event to be held at the new Arcadia Transit Plaza on Santa Clara Street at First Avenue. The event is made possible by the generosity of sponsors including former Mayor Peter Amundson’s Minuteman Transport, Rose Hills Memorial Park & Mortuary, and Downtown Arcadia’s own Foothill Credit Union.
Matt Denny’s owner Matt McSweeny has arranged for his Tuesday night band J.C. Hyke and local band Totally Hip Replacements to perform patriotic and fun rock music on the stage at the plaza while Matt Denny’s and other local restaurants will offer great food and beverages.
L.A.’s favorite Hawai’ian shave ice truck, A ROCKin Ice will offer special red, white and blue shave ice for the occasion, along with more than a dozen other flavors of shave ice, as well as delicious ice cream cookie sandwiches, slushy lemonades, and coffee parfaits. A ROCKin Ice was one of the most popular food trucks at the inaugural Arcadia’s Best Foundation Patriotic Festival and parade that drew 4,000 attendees in 2011 and was also in Downtown Arcadia on First Avenue. Arcadia’s Best Foundation also produced Christmas Markets the first three Saturdays in December the last two years, the last of which drew about 2,000 people.
The street fair on July 3rd and every week thereafter will feature the best of all the elements of the long-running Monrovia Friday Family Fun Festival, with the same producer, Dave Gayman of Family Festival Productions, bringing his favorite food, beverage, merchandise, and farmer’s market vendors, as well as live music, bounce houses and other activities for kids and adults.
New vendors on July 3 will also include some of the best artisans from the recent Sierra Madre Wisteria Festival, including Saint Johns Sponge Co. and Hawaiian Fragrant Crystals.
The above comes from an official press release from the Downtown Arcadia Improvement Association.
Corrections made 6/20/15: Changed the wrong city name in the title to “Arcadia” and the press release to Downtown Arcadia Improvement Association