With the clock running out on summer, the Peninsula’s Jewish community is once again taking to the streets for To Life! A Jewish Cultural Street Festival.
Up to 12,000 Jews from across the Bay Area are expected to crowd downtown Palo Alto’s California Avenue from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18, to enjoy the sixth annual edition of the popular festival.
Presented by the J-Connect program of the Albert L. Schultz Jewish Community Center, To Life! is the Peninsula’s biggest Jewish-themed outdoor event.
Other key sponsors include the Koret Foundation, the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life and Culture, the Saal Family Foundation and the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation.
That support has helped the event grow from year to year. Sometimes, bigger is better, and organizers promise the 2005 festival will be the best yet.
Says Stephanie Brown, J-Connect (and festival) director: “The thing that amazes me most is the broad base of support from every synagogue, the other JCCs and every Jewish organization. People are clamoring to get in.”
As usual, the festival’s Tents of Community will feature booths representing scores of organizations serving the Jewish community. Add first-rate entertainment on three stages, dozens of jury-selected fine artists and the yummiest Jewish foods this side of Dizengoff Street, and festivalgoers should have a blast all day long. And as always, admission is free.
Back this year after a successful debut in 2004 is the Jewish American Idol singing competition. Paula Abdul won’t show, but scores of Jewish kids ages 6 to 17 will be on hand to compete for prizes valued at more than $1,000.
Produced by the National Jewish Theater Festival (the same folks behind “MeshugaNutcracker!”), the contest will allow entrants to choose from a broader list of songs this year.
Also on the main stage this year, Meshuggenismo!, a 10-piece salsa band that spices up their music with a touch of kosher klezmer. Ladino folk singer Mark Levy will perform, as will singer/songwriter Judith Kaye Friedman.
Reaching out to broader audiences, Brown also booked Jewish hip-hop artists Tim Barsky (of “Bright River” fame) as well as Dr. J$ and the OJG’s Hip Hop Shabbat Crew. For comedy fans, the National Jewish Theater Festival will bring its improv troupe ComedySportz to the main stage.
For children, this year’s festival offers something unusual: ethical training. The Wisdom of the Sages booth features activities like the Wheel of Values, an interactive game that presents kids with images and stories from Jewish history then asks them questions such as: Who is strong? and Who is wise?
Artists on hand this year work in a variety of media, from glasswork and ceramics to photography and textiles. All will have their work for sale, but for those who would rather make art than buy it, a gigantic do-it-yourself mosaic will be on site and ready for tiling in the Tents of Community section.
Helping to save lives, Jewish Family and Children’s Services will be on hand to offer bone marrow screenings for the national registry.
As for the food, Brown says organizers devoted much of their time to getting things right. “This year,” she says, “we have the ever-popular kosher hot dogs and burgers from Jewish Study Network, which features Orthodox rabbis doing the cooking. We also have everything from falafel to Vietnamese spring rolls. Everything is kosher or vegetarian.”
And of course, for the young and the reckless, there’s the 26-foot climbing wall.
Mounting an event of this magnitude is a yeoman team effort, say the organizers. That means triple-checking on city permits, suppliers, security and vendor needs. Up to 200 volunteers augment the paid staff, all working to create the illusion that it took no work at all.
“It’s my responsibility to make sure everything is up and running for everybody,” says To Life! producer Euca Burrows, “from the artists to the performers to attendees.”
Burrows is quick to add that staging the festival in Palo Alto is part of the pleasure. “They’re wonderful,” she says of the city officials she works with.” We have a great reputation for compliance.”
Meanwhile, as the big day draws closer, Brown grows ever more excited. She may be the overextended organizer-in-chief, but she never loses sight of what To Life! means to the Bay Area Jewish community.
“This started as an outreach event,” she says. “We try to make it so people can get in touch with some piece of their Jewish identity. Maybe hearing beautiful music or seeing a mezuzah. Whatever connects on an emotional level, that’s what I want people to tap into and stir the tiniest desire to deepen that connection. Culture and art is the way to do that in the most inviting way possible.”