A week ago Monday, I got a call from my friend, Christy with a ‘spur of the moment’ offer – would I like to attend the ‘Festival of the Arts – Pageant of the Master’ the following evening? Well, it didn’t take me but a ‘split second’ to whoop out a resounding YESSSSSSS! I love the Pageant of the Masters, but the tickets are expensive and you have to buy them almost a year in advance, so I have to say it’s been a lonnnnngggggg time since I’ve seen the show. The evening was for ‘dinner and the show’– what more could I ask for!!

Christy is not into paying for parking, which is okay with me – I don’t mind walking – RIGHT (heehee!!) Because now, they have these FREE Trolleys that drive around the Laguna area every few minutes – SO, we thought this would be a no-brainer, park on a side street just off PCH a block and then, take the trolley into town. We took a right at Cress Street and parked – walked to the sign for the trolley and waited, and waited, and waited. We were already sort of late, dinner reservation was for 5PM and it was probably already 5:15PM. When we couldn’t see any trolley driving along, we started walking – every so often looking back to see if the trolley was approaching so we could run to the next trolley sign. Well, we ended up walking the WHOLE WAY to the ‘White House’ restaurant downtown on PCH – quite a walk I must say – I was sweating and out of breath (you know, that fat and out of shape thing) by the time we arrived, but was great knowing I’d gotten in my ‘exercise’ for the day!!

Dinner was lovely – there was myself, Christy, Christy’s Aunt Karen, Aunt Karen’s cousin, Janet and another couple (sorry to say can’t remember their names – another exasperating senior moment, oh well!!). After dinner we all walked the short distance to the Festival Grounds. We were early; the performance didn’t start until 8:30pm, so we walked around and checked out the beautiful jewelry and impressive art works of the local artists. Walking around the grounds took me back to the times I went with Mom and Dad. I remember when the grounds were sawdust and lawn, like it is in the Sawdust Festival, across Laguna Canyon Road. Now, it’s mostly concrete. You didn’t always go to the Pageant; sometimes you just went to the Festival. I remember selling homemade candies and fudge for The Church at the Festival and eating at the Tivoli Restaurant, when it wasn’t so expensive!! Fun memories!!

This was the 75th anniversary of the Pageant, and I guess during that long of a run there have to be changes. Some of the changes I didn’t care for and for me, it seemed to take away from the ‘magic’ of the evening but still it was a wonderful performance. The pictures shown were outstanding. I will never know how they do it, even when they show you how it’s done, it’s still ‘amazing’ when the stage goes black and then, the finished picture is presented, you are still left wondering ‘How’d they do that? And how do the volunteers stand soooooo still for sooooo long in those poses for the statues. I watched them so carefully, trying to see if any of them moved, but they are so good – the control they have over their bodies is amazing – reminds me of the athletes that perform in the Olympics – at least in the Olympics they are usually moving – with this they have to stay perfectly still for what seems like an eternity!!
As you can see by the picture of the program, the theme for this year’s Pageant was ‘All The World’s A Stage.’ Many of the pictures had to do with Shakespeare’s plays and operas. Along with some of the pictures, there were live singers dressed in the same costumes as in the paintings, singing an appropriate song. The music was wonderful, the orchestra was great – the music was just as much a part as the pictures and statues.

But alas, it was over far too quickly, and were we being pushed along in the throng heading for the front gates. For the trip back to the car, we did hop on the Trolley!! The Trolleys are open cars - it was fun to be squished together, everyone talking about the night, with everyone’s hair blowing in the wind!!

Thank You Christy for thinking of me – it was a memory made – one I will always remember and treasure!!

Love you all,
Cassy

PS: Christy apologizes for the picture being so blurry! The picture is of me, on the left, Aunt Karen in the middle, and Cousin Janet on the right. I first met Aunt Karen when Christy and her family invited me to Christmas dinner 2007 at Aunt Karen’s home in Orange. When I met her, I immediately thought of my Aunt Bertha, my Dad’s older sister (I think she was older, Ed will have to verify). Same size, same style and color of hair and such a ‘doer’ – she loves crafts and joins all kinds of organizations, same as Aunt Bertha. This was my first time to meet Cousin Janet, and all during dinner I kept thinking to myself, she reminds me of someone, but it took me looking at this picture before it dawned on me that she resembles a younger Aunt Virginia, my Mom’s Sister-in-Law, she was married to Uncle Cliffy. Hey, Ed what do you think??
Again, love you all!!