About 100 take their picnic

Jeff Benson

The Costa Mesa Human Relations Committee held its third annual

Community Picnic at Fairview Park Sunday, but apparently few received

the message.

No one who attended seemed to mind. The space on the lawn only

created more room for the people who did show to play football or fly

their kites. Despite near-perfect weather, fewer than 100 people

showed up for the event, which featured live entertainment and kids’

activities.

Committee chair Mirna Burciaga said she’d hoped for a crowd

matching last year’s total of about 200.

“We try to bring people together and have a fun day,” she said.

“People can come talk to us about problems they have, and we can talk

with the children and outreach to the community.”

With children all around, some visitors brought their own lunches

and sat on blankets while listening to jazz performed by the Center

Band from the Costa Mesa Church of Religious Science’s Center for

Spiritual Discovery. The band was followed by young dancers from

Costa Mesa’s Salsa Swing Connection.

Additionally, kids were invited to inspect the inside of a Costa

Mesa Police patrol car, sign up for city recreation programs and play

pool and foosball. Some kids even began grooving on a dance floor set

up on the grass.

Committee member Louisa Arnold said her group spent more than six

months preparing for the event.

“The community is very diverse and it really brings the community

together to do things like this,” she said. “This isn’t just some

casual thing where somebody says ‘Let’s have a picnic.’ People have

given very unselfishly.”

Committee members said they hope the turnout will improve for

Fairview’s upcoming “Concerts in the Park” series, which will be held

at 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays beginning July 6.

Another committee member, Rendell Drew, said he’s planning on

holding small focus group discussions in future months so citizens

can voice their opinions on a wide range of issues.

“We’re increasing the activities within the community by holding

concerts like this and developing forums for community dialogues,”

Drew said. “We’ve already got a couple churches and several people

who’ve said they’re interested in participating.”

* JEFF BENSON is the news assistant and may be reached at (949)

574-4298 or by e-mail at jeff.benson@latimes.com.