The arts will come alive at Manhattan Beach’s Festival in the Park

Youngsters will sail colorful handmade boats on the pond.

Gourmet chefs will prepare some of their specialties for sampling.

Artwork by veteran artists and hundreds of schoolchildren will displayed.

High school students will play jazz.

It’s all about showing off the arts in Manhattan Beach as the city Public Arts Program puts on the free Festival in the Park on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Polliwog Park.

Katya Williamson, city public arts administrator, describes the day as a combination art park with workshops, where people may exercise their imaginations, and an old-fashioned country fair putting the emphasis on handcrafts and traditional musical instruments.

“We’ll be having demonstrations by artists in quilt-making and ceramics and music on the hurdy-gurdy and bagpipes,” she said.

Although this is the ninth annual festival, it is the first one run by the Public Arts Program, which is winding up its first year of presenting arts lectures and sponsoring bus trips to museums and art galleries.

Williamson said the program is part of a national trend emphasizing not only arts programs but also display of art in public places. Four works will be placed on city property this summer, she said.

The fair will get under way with a 10-foot-high hot-air balloon that Venice artist Steven Glassman has covered with colored tissue paper.

“It is very transparent in the light and it will be a quiet, gentle way to start the day,” said Williamson, pointing out that the theme of the festival is “Colors in the Wind.” The balloon will be released between 10:30 and 11 a.m.

Another flight of balloons will bring festivities to an end about 4 p.m. In one of several activities during the day to encourage on-the-spot creativity, children will make a large balloon sculpture, deciding on its shape as they go along. Each balloon will carry a tag saying what art means to the a particular child.

“Who knows where the tags will wind up,” said Williamson, “but they’ll let people know the arts are alive in Manhattan Beach.”

In between these events will be a variety of art displays and demonstrations, food and beverages, puppeteers and mimes, and what Williamson calls “food as art”--fancy creations by Manhattan Beach chefs.

Music also will be on tap, with performances by the the 15-member Mira Costa High School Jazz Band and a demonstration of Nigerian drums by Awe, a UCLA student, who will be joined by dancers and musicians.

Sean Folsom, a musicologist from Carmel Valley, will show off a variety of bagpipes, which have their origins in ancient times. The pipes are usually identified with Scotland, but Folsom said they date back to the Roman Empire and are found in many European countries.

“People usually find all of this new,” he said, explaining that his appearance Sunday will also feature the hurdy-gurdy, a cranked instrument that looks like a lute but sounds like a bagpipe.

Throughout the day, paintings, watercolors and other art by more than 300 children from seven public and private schools in Manhattan Beach will be displayed. “We want as much as possible to give students a possibility to show their art potential,” Williamson said.

About 45 seasoned artists will also set up booths to display and sell everything from jewelry, weaving and ceramics to sculpture, photography, oil painting and watercolors.

The flotilla of handmade boats made of such things as milk cartons and Popsicle sticks will be an afternoon highlight at 2 p.m. Children who don’t make boats at home will be able to create them at a fair workshop.

Arts program volunteer Sandy Wetmore, who is in charge of children’s events, said one challenge to the flotilla will be keeping the pond ducks from biting.

“We’ve told the kids to bring lots of bread to divert the ducks,” she said.

What: Festival in the Park.

When: Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Where: Polliwog Park, Manhattan Beach Boulevard at Redondo Avenue, Manhattan Beach.

Admission: Free.

Information: 545-5621, Ext. 324.