Wednesday, April 23, 2014

The East Bay: Fairs, Festivals & Fun

By Madeleine Glazier


Attractions and annual events are definitely always available in the areas of San Francisco and also Oakland but do you know that Alameda or Contra Costa County can offer you quite a number of fun festivals and celebrations which residents take pride of yearly as well? Perhaps you would like to get to know some of them, especially if you are considering a permanent move to the scenic East Bay.

Because there is abundance of native California walnut trees, Walnut Creek was named for this plentiful nut. This town's most popular festival is the annual Walnut Festival - not a surprise, right? Record shows, however, that it used to be a Grape Festival that was being held here however during Prohibition, grape farmers ditched winemaking to grow walnut trees thus a new festival was created. Every September, the town's Walnut Festival includes activities like 5K-10K run, the ever popular twilight parade, live music, arts and crafts displays and a carnival.

Concord is a bit of a jazz hotspot. This city was the birthplace of famous jazz musician Dave Brubeck and the town named a park after Brubeck. Concord Records also was founded in Concord, with its initial emphasis in jazz. Its founder, Carl Jefferson, also founded the Concord Jazz Festival. This annual event has been a popular tradition in Concord since 1969.

While the film industry still resides mainly in Hollywood, the East Bay offers several interesting film festivals. It is in the historic Orinda Theatre that both the Orinda Film Festival and the California Independent Film Festival were hosted and held. Danville also had an annual event in town which is the Danville International Children's Film Festival. Both Berkeley and Oakland also offer many film festivals.

A wide variety of events are being held in annual county fairs on both counties. Come mid-June, until roughly after the Fourth of July you will find the annual Alameda County Fair which showcases petting zoo, livestock and small animal exhibits and of course lots of live music, the arts and crafts as well as several contests and competitions for people of different ages. As for the fair in Contra Costa County, this four-day affair takes place in early June and you are likely to find live music, livestock exhibits, cooking contests, monkey shows and a carnival.

If you are considering relocating to either Alameda County or Contra Costa County, consider called the real estate team at 1stInSite. The can help you find Danville homes for sale, Lafayette homes for sale, Walnut Creek homes for sale as well as Orinda homes for sale, Alamo real estate and much more.




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