Annual Street Fair to Return to Silver Lake

After moving to Echo Park last year, the Sunset Junction Street Fair will return to Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake this weekend for its 10th anniversary. The two-day block party is expected to attract 200,000 people.

The fair was founded in 1980 to promote community unity between such disparate groups as gays, gangs and ethnic minorities residing in Silver Lake, Echo Park and Los Feliz, organizers said.

“This is the most diverse area of the city as far as lifestyle and cultural background,” said Micheal McKinley, coordinator of the fair. “What we’re trying to do is celebrate that diversity.”

Last year’s block party was moved from its traditional site along Sunset Boulevard near Santa Monica Boulevard--an area known as Sunset Junction--to Echo Park to better accommodate Latino groups that helped sponsor the event.

But Echo Park attracted far fewer gays than the street site, said Louis Jacinto, a board member of Gay and Lesbian Latinos Unidos, one of 26 co-sponsors of the event. For that reason, and because it is the event’s 10th anniversary, the fair will return to its traditional site, Jacinto said.

As in the past, organizers will try to use the fair to smooth tensions and promote understanding between diverse groups and residents. For instance, about 100 gang members and other youths will try to assist police by serving as monitors and security at the fair, said Robert Aguayo, a counselor at El Centro del Pueblo, a community agency that works with gangs.

“It’s kind of like the old saying that you’re going to be a part of the problem or part of the solution,” Aguayo said. “We decided to have gangs as part of the solution. So far that has worked out really well.”

Organizers also hope to set up a canvas on a graffiti-covered wall near Sunset Boulevard and Sanborn Avenue so gang members can “tag” it with slogans about AIDS funding and education, McKinley said.

This year’s fair also will offer many family events, such as carnival and elephant rides, a laser show, a children’s museum and ethnic and disco dancing, Jacinto said.

Entertainment at the fair should be as diverse as the audiences expected. About 38 bands and dance groups are scheduled to perform a wide range of music and dancing, including Latin jazz, country, blues and belly-dancing.

The fair and entertainment are free. About 100 booths will sell food and crafts. Any proceeds from the event will benefit community-based services, McKinley said.

The fair will be open Saturday and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The 3600 to 4000 blocks of Sunset Boulevard, between Fountain Avenue and Edgecliffe Drive, will be closed to traffic from 2 a.m. Saturday until about 4 a.m. Monday.