By Daily Press staff
Spend a day near the beach this weekend at Canyon Charter School’s 111th Annual Fiesta and Silent Auction on Sunday, April 24, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 421 Entrada Dr. Throwing a fiesta is a time-honored tradition at the school because the event dates to 1894. Back then, the library was a one-room schoolhouse on the Marquez family land grant, the area’s original rancho. Fiesta now symbolizes the celebration of the canyon’s rich Latin heritage. It’s also how this highly ranked public school raises funds to enhance the instructional program with additional activities.
There will be mariachis and a tasting of local chef Joe Miller’s south of the border cuisine. The playground will be transformed into an amusement park. The rides include a giant 45-foot Ferris wheel, a Go-Gater roller coaster, a pirate ship swing and a 70-foot obstacle course. There also will be game booths like mini basketball, duck races and milk bottles. Children also can do arts and crafts, have their faces painted, pet animals and ride ponies. Attendees can wander through a Mercado that has fiesta-themed items for sale. Other favorites include skee ball and a cake walk, where winners take home desserts. Game tickets can be redeemed for prizes.
Shoppers can flip for prizes of their own as the school’s newly refurbished auditorium plays host to a silent auction. More than 500 items are priced as low as $5 and as high as $5,000. Any money paid in excess of the retail value is tax-deductible. Some of the items include a martini party for eight at Gotham Hall; two tickets to the world premiere of “Bewitched,” a weekend stay at Santa Monica’s Fairmont Miramar Hotel and a kid-sized basketball jersey signed by Shaquille O’Neal. Look for a Segway electric scooter and other goodies to be auctioned off
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 23, 2005. Read the original PDF.