Festival Highlights

Supplies Donation Days

The Laguna Beach Passport to the Arts team, including Art-A-Fair, Festival of the Arts, Sawdust Art Festival and the Laguna Beach Visitors Bureau, will hold its second Art Supplies Donation Day of the season on Wednesday.

Festival-goers who bring items worth $5 or more such as sketch pads, small journals, drawing pencils, markers, watercolor sets and pads, will receive free admission that day to all three art festivals.

Donations may be turned in at the front entrance at each festival.

Beatles Day is Saturday

The Sawdust Art Festival will feature Beatles Day from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, where patrons can enjoy all of their favorite Beatles classics at the Festival’s live performance stages, as well as make Beatles crafts like ‘60s monograms, air-dry clay musical instruments and magnets.

Beatles tribute performances include Blue Latitude from noon to 4:30 p.m., followed by Rubber Sole from 5:30 to 9:45 p.m. on the Main Deck.

The Sawdust Saloon will celebrate the Beatles throughout the day by offering $3 European beers including Boddington’s, Abbey Leffe and Czechvar.

For a complete list of performances, visit https://www.sawdustartfestival.org.

Sawdust Education Fundraiser

The Sawdust Festival will introduce its Original Collectors’ Panels auction from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday on the Main Deck in support of 2010 Sawdust Art Education programs.

More than 75 Sawdust artists have donated their time and artistic talents to create a diverse collection of decorative art panels using a wide variety of media.

Compared to last year’s 14 fundraiser participants, the enthusiasm of these 70 fundraising artists exemplifies the coming together of the Sawdust family for a unified cause.

“It’s time to utilize power in numbers, pull together, and give back to our organization,” Art Education Committee Chair Muffin Spencer-Devlin said in a statement.

The Panels will be on display around the Sawdust grounds and in artists’ booths, and will be pre-auctioned during the run of show. Proceeds will benefit the Sawdust Art Education Fund. The Sawdust Festival is located at 935 Laguna Canyon Road.

Customer Appreciation Weekend

Art-A-Fair will “give back to its patrons” during the final weekend of the season Aug. 27 to 29 by not charging admission.

Despite the lackluster economy, visitors have been coming to Art-A-Fair all summer and making many purchases from the Festival’s 125 artists, VP of Marketing Joyce Kaspryzk said.

“Our Customer Appreciation Weekend celebrates the generosity of our visitors. We invite them to come back and enjoy another visit ‘on us,’” she said in a statement.

The Festival has seen an increase in attendance and sales over the last year, according to Scooter Brewer, president of the Board of Directors.

“Although a certain amount of guesswork is involved, we think these increases are due to the quality of artists and the more than $3 million to $4 million worth of artwork displayed,” Brewer said.

Offering easy parking and convenience for visitors, the city will provide free parking from 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Aug. 21 to 29 at Pavilions Shopping Center at Boat Canyon on North Coast Highway, where visitors can ride a complimentary shuttle to the Laguna Beach bus depot (within walking distance of Art-A-Fair) or transfer to a second shuttle that will drop off and pick up at Festival grounds, 777 Laguna Canyon Road.

Art-A-Fair Music Performances

This weekend, Art-A-Fair, 777 Laguna Canyon Road, will offer an exciting lineup with a jazz performance by the Laguna Beach Concert Band from noon to 2 p.m. and a “smokin’ piano” session with Sebastion Sidi from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday; Upstream will play Caribbean music from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, followed by Fuzzi Logic from 4 to 7 p.m; Paul McInitre will return with his electric violin from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday.

Coffee and Conversations

Get inside the minds of Festival of Arts exhibitors Tim Shockley, Pat Sparkuhl, Ellen Rose and Walter Reiss from 10 to 11 a.m. Thursday when they discuss the inspiration behind their ideas for painting, sculpting, ceramics and mixed media art host, Kathy Jones. Free with admission to the Festival of Arts, 650 Laguna Canyon Road.

Art of Cooking

The Festival of Arts will feature French pastry chef Stephane Tréand from 1 to 2 p.m. Sunday, as part of its weekly Art of Cooking series.

Specializing in sugar and chocolate showpieces for more than 25 years, Tréand will dazzle the crowd with his unique cooking techniques before handing out recipes to try at home.

A veteran of the food industry, Treand’s pastry journey began in Northern France at the age of 16 when his father sent him to work at the local bakery, where he discovered a passion for pastry. He later opened his own Patisserie tearoom in the heart of Provence, where he quickly made a name for himself.

He sold this boutique in 2001 to teach classes around the world and pursue his lifetime dream of achieving the title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best Craft man in France), which he did in 2004. A year later, he became executive pastry chef at the St Regis Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point.

Some of Treand’s claims to fame include first prize in the Food Network’s “Sugar Showpiece Challenge” in 2005; the gold medal at the United States World Pastry Team Championship in 2007; and wining World Pastry Champion in 2008.

Pastry Art and Design Magazine also named him one of the Ten Best Pastry Chefs in the U.S. in 2007 and 2008. A year later, he coached the USA pastry team, which won the bronze medal at the International Pastry Competition in Tokyo.

Art of Cooking is free with admission at the Festival of Arts, 650 Laguna Canyon Road.