Beautiful Laguna Beach California - playground for Daughter’s and Dad’s Day

Well, the day finally arrived – 8/20/11. What is special about this day, it’s my ticket date for the “Pageant of the Masters.” This year’s theme – “it’s only make believe.” I first went to the Pageant of the Masters when I was age 11 or 12; it was an eye opening and life changing event. I didn’t go again until about 7 years ago when I thought that it would make a fun Valentine’s gift – my then wife Kelly always got two nice dinners out of the deal; and, the tickets, in lieu of flowers, spared the lives of some unwitting roses.

I purchase my tickets in October (preferential treatment – I’m special ha ha) of the preceding year and patiently await the “day” – it’s always worth the wait! I have a “festival of Arts” membership that gets me access to other events as well – back stage meet and greets, preview artist’s work, celebrity activities, and so forth. This year the stars were aligned and the “Festival” runway fashion show and a “Criminal Minds” cast meet and greet were scheduled the same day. The theme for the fashion show was “Re(f)use” – the fashion entry had to be fabricated from reused  material. One of the judges was Marlee Matlin, Oscar winner for her role in “Children of a lesser God.”

I always purchase two tickets and this year decided that my daughter Kasaundra will go with me. She recently graduated from Trabuco Hills HS and is enrolled at Saddleback JC. She will major in Fashion Merchandising and minor in Business. She is employed by “Forever 21” (women’s retail) at their new location in Mission Viejo and is very excited.

The fashion show began at 1pm and had 8 entrants. Materials used were cork, window screen, dry cleaner wire hangers, magazine pages, trash bags, etc. Entrants included a wedding dress (the winner), an Elizabethan dress, a Spanish dress, and some others – not my area of expertise J Kasaundra enjoyed the runway show and once done we walked around the art on display.

Laguna has many resident, talented, artists. We walked around enjoying the Jewelry, glass blown art, ceramists, painters, and sculptors. One of my favorites is the local school entrees; it is amazing to see what the creative mind of a kindergartner can express. Needless to say, I did not purchase any of the works but did see some incredibly creative and talented pieces.

Eight-thirty arrived and we went to our seats. This year I did better (each year I learn, and want, a little better and more) and chose Loge Center seats. The Pageant uses several locations in the Bowl to stage there Tableau Vivant – Living Art. Up close is great but you have to strain to see the side stages. So, I like to sit back a few rows in order to easily enjoy it all.

The works ranged from the Fairies used to depict Shakespeare’s “a mid-summer nights dream” to Salvador Daly numerous works – remember the theme “it’s only make believe.” The Pageant committee does well to keep a sense of humor and added, or alluded to, a Big-foot. Along the way many Dragons were submitted and some robotics added to give the night a large scale Tableau – usually not my thing but my fellow audience enjoyed it. Several of the Criminal Minds cast were seated a couple rows ahead of us and I kept thinking about the theme and how they must be wondering about their own portrayals in the series they appear in; and, that from time to time we all like to get away by viewing a movie or reading a book. The final Tableau is always Michelangelo’s Last Supper; this year was no different other than that Daly’s rendition was used.

The evening ended and Kasaundra and I went home. We shared some Ice cream and commented on what a great day we had spent together. The Pageant is memorable but not as valuable as the time I spend with her.

To close, October will arrive and I will send in my seating selections for next year; I wonder what the Theme will be? Will I take Kas again? Will she go with me?