SOLANA BEACH — Guitar riffs and pleasure surged via Solana Seaside over the weekend with the return of the forty first annual Fiesta Del Sol beachside music competition and market.
After a two-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, anticipation for this 12 months’s competition was greater than ever, attracting a whole bunch of music and beer fans from throughout San Diego County who flooded the world of Fletcher Cove Park and the live performance house arrange within the car parking zone of Soiled Canine and Meow Grooming.
With a lineup of 20 performers — together with reggae icon Don Carlos, 70s-era surf rock band Yächtley Crëw and different performers within the rock and roll and soul genres — between two days on the group stage, the 2022 Fiesta Del Sol was the biggest iteration of the occasion but, sponsored by the Stomach Up Tavern and Solana Seaside Chamber of Commerce.
“It’s tremendous enjoyable — we’re having a blast,” mentioned Escondido resident Chrissie Preston. “I’m an enormous music gal, and it’s a enjoyable native occasion additionally supporting small companies.”
With free entry to all of the reveals, the standing room-only live performance house steadily stuffed because the day went on with people dancing, having fun with beer and singing alongside to unique songs and basic rock and roll covers. Others additionally took benefit of the VIP seating space for a extra unique expertise.
First-time attendee Larry Visconti and veteran attendee Linda, who selected to not share her final title, loved the Sunday afternoon efficiency by Calgary-based band Daring Greatly from their garden chairs. Like many residents on the occasion, they introduced alongside their canine to benefit from the day.
“It’s a terrific lineup,” mentioned Visconti. “You’ll be able to’t get any higher than Solana Seaside.”
Longtime attendee Linda lauded this 12 months’s competition as the biggest but, with among the many most spectacular performers. For her and lots of others, the occasion was a type of soul achievement after the COVID-induced absence of dwell music.
“It’s positively extra crowded, nevertheless it’s extra thrilling. The lineup is the very best it’s ever been,” she mentioned.
Performers themselves had been equally as excited to be on the competition. Some had been seasoned Fiesta Del Sol superstars, whereas others had been stepping on the group stage for the primary time.
“That is our first Fiesta, and it feels rattling good to be right here,” Patrick Croome, lead singer of Daring Drastically, mentioned to a cheering crowd.
In between performances, attendees ambled alongside South Sierra and Acacia avenues to purview the road of distributors promoting handmade wares, bought grub from the gathering of meals carts, and headed to the beer backyard to pattern libations from native breweries.
One of many many tents arrange over the weekend was occupied by small enterprise Vintage Printage, run by Riverside resident Em Miller and her daughter Rory. Consumers sifted via crates of what at first look seemed to be data, however had been truly classic journal covers, many saved from a library assortment set to be destroyed.
Miller mentioned she first caught wind of Fiesta Del Sol after just lately being recruited to arrange store on the occasion, and has appreciated the creative clientele introduced by the competition.
“Occasions like this, and particularly festivals like this, are our lifeblood. With the attendance it has, and the kind of people who attend, it makes it straightforward to maintain. We promote a $10 product, and hundreds of individuals come via,” she mentioned.
Additional down the road of distributors, artist Rick Macaw could possibly be seen sketching a grasshopper in entrance of a tent displaying small ink and watercolor drawings of buildings, automobiles, and wildlife.
“That is my first artwork truthful I’ve ever accomplished,” Macaw mentioned. “I’m simply out right here making an attempt to speak to individuals … making an attempt to place some peace and love into the world.”
