Pasadena, CA – After Thanksgiving, everyone knows that the end of the year Holiday festivities are just around the corner. December is filled with joy, laughter, merriment… and insanity. Thankfully, Pasadena’s Holidayfest was a refreshingly peaceful transition from Black Friday into the Holiday season. This past Saturday December 5th, South Lake Avenue in Pasadena hosted their 7th annual Holidayfest presented by the South Lake Business Association. Holidayfest has become a huge success for Pasadena and their residents over the years because it supports the community through supporting local shops and local music.
With available free parking, South Lake Avenue invited the whole family and provided a fun, holiday filled day. From the moment the car is parked, people are greeted with traditional holiday characters including adorable full costumed elves, nutcrackers on stilts, and walking Christmas trees. The main courtyard, adjacent to Corner Bakery Café and Macy’s had fun activities stationed such as photos with Santa, an old fashioned popcorn machine giving out free popcorn, holiday face painting offered for children, and cooking demonstrations for adults. There was also a horse and carriage ride that was beautifully decorated in holiday spirit, available for families to ride down Lake.
Holidayfest also had a scavenger hunt set up that allowed people to explore the dozens of exclusive shops that the avenue holds. As an incentive to participate in the scavenger hunt, South Lake Avenue told everyone to collect a sticker at nine shops or restaurants to be entered in a raffle for a chance to win holiday giveaways.
South Lake Avenue has got some great taste in music too. They picked three versatile bands to perform live at Holidayfest; DWNTWN which was a cool Indie Synthpop mix, The Dustbowl Revival had a vintage Bluegrass, Blues, and Soul vibe, Magic Giant who was featured on Spotify’s New Music Tuesday, Billboard’s ‘Artist on the Verge,’ and NPR’s Songs We Love, and DJ Grant Owens from We Found New Music to spin in between sets.
South Lake Avenue really wanted to make Holidayfest about the community, which was definitely achieved.
Check out http://www.southlakeavenue.org/ to explore the shops on South Lake Avenue and to learn more about their fun upcoming events!
