Fine Feathered Festival to Celebrate 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.