Fine Feathered Festival Will Pay Homage to Ostriches

South Pasadena this month will dust off its boa and shake off its feathered headdress to celebrate the gawky, mean-spirited creatures that put the city’s name on the map: ostriches.

The South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce said the funny-looking, seven-foot critters focused international attention on the city when the now-defunct Cawston Ostrich Farm served as the leading provider of plumage to royalty and dancers throughout the world.

And on what would have been the farm’s 100th anniversary, Oct. 27, the city plans to honor the bird with its own festival, said Eileen Garcia, executive director of the chamber.

“It’s a pretty dumb bird,” Garcia conceded, but it has been the city’s unofficial mascot since the farm opened in 1896. And it’s been extolled before in South Pasadena: the Fourth of July parade paid homage to ostriches.

The festivities, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., will turn the Mission Oaks parking lot into a feathered carnival. There will be costume contests, pony rides, arts and crafts and a 100-foot slide.

One thing the festival won’t have, though, is an ostrich.

“We were getting one, but it died,” Garcia said. “They’re very sensitive.”

The chamber will have a flock of wooden cutout ostriches, which, Garcia said, are much nicer than the real animals and are less likely to be seen with their heads in the sand.

Located between Pasadena and Sycamore avenues where an Italian restaurant now stands, the farm once drew tourists who gawked at baby chicks and full-grown ostriches.

The farm quickly became a landmark in the area, but despite its success in the plumage industry, the operation closed in 1935--probably because “people weren’t wearing feathers in their caps and they weren’t into dancing with feathers anymore,” Garcia said.

Don’t tell that to Willy Zelowitz. The owner of Mother Pluckers, a Hollywood feather store, hopes to sell his wares at the festival.

“I go back as far as Mr. T’s earrings,” said Zelowitz, whose store will showcase the kind of headdresses, angel wings and fans that Mother Pluckers regularly pieces together for Hollywood studios.

In addition to the pricey stuff, the store has fashioned $4 ostrich feather earrings and pins for the budget-conscious festival-goer, Zelowitz said.