Pancakes, Crafts, Animals to Fill Downtown Street

Animals, music, beer and pancakes make up the eighth annual Olde Encinitas MainStreet Faire this Sunday on 1st Street in downtown Encinitas. Festivities will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Before the main activities, local firefighters will start flipping pancakes at 7 a.m. and will serve breakfast until 11 a.m. in a parking lot at D and 1st streets. Tickets are $3.

Fair-goers can browse through the more than 450 arts, crafts and food booths along 1st Street. An enclosed beer and burger garden will be available for adults, with dancing to live music.

Jazz, rock, swing and rhythm and blues will also be performed on two street stages. Musical groups include Tobacco Road, Circuit Breakers, Coolrays, and Ruby and the Redhots. Strolling musicians, Pieces and Fabulous Earrings, will provide a cappella performances.

Critter Corner, at 1st and E streets, will feature bird shows, Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl and llama rides. Children can get their picture taken with a critter for $4.

There will also be clowns, mimes, face painting and jugglers.

A free guided walking tour of downtown Encinitas will begin at 11:30 a.m. Interested participants should meet historian Lloyd O’Connell at the corner of 1st and E.

More than 20,000 people are expected to attend this year’s event. Proceeds will help the nonprofit MainStreet Program, which is dedicated to the preservation and improvement of downtown Encinitas.