Sherman Oaks : Annual Street Fair to Add Musical Acts

Organizers of the Sherman Oaks Street Fair and Carnival hope to make it bigger, better and bolder than ever with the addition of musical acts booked by the producers of the Grammy Awards show, 50 additional vendors and actor Hector Elizondo as grand marshal.

Set for Friday to Sunday, the fifth annual street fair will feature 20 food booths and 175 to 200 vendors selling artworks, singles services and everything in between, according to Nancy Schmidt, past president of the Greater Sherman Oaks Chamber of Commerce and a member of the street fair steering committee.

The street fair, which is sponsored by the chamber and the five public elementary schools in Sherman Oaks, is the major fund-raising event for the year. Organizers said they hope to raise $20,000 this year, which would be a little more than last year’s total. Fifty-one percent of the net proceeds go to the participating schools, with the remainder going to the chamber.

“It’s truly a community event, creating a partnership with businesses, residents and schools,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt said one of the things she is most looking forward to this year is the musical entertainment, coordinated for the first time by the Grammy Festival, producers of the Grammy music awards show.

The acts, which organizers said will be of higher quality than those of previous years, will include the big-band sounds of Downbeat Express, the Brazilian music of Hugojojo, and country-Western singers Krista and Tommy Holden-Hill.

The street fair will be kicked off at 6 p.m. Friday at the corner of Cedros Avenue and Ventura Boulevard with a carnival and games. The carnival will continue from noon to 11 p.m. Saturday.

On Sunday, cars will give way to vendors, restaurants and entertainment stages as Ventura Boulevard is closed to traffic from Cedros Avenue to Van Nuys Boulevard. A large area set aside for children will feature arts and crafts, an entertainment stage, a puppet show, petting zoo and pumpkin patch.