By Traude Gomez Rhine
CONTRIBUTOR
The entire community is invited to enjoy The Huntington’s art and gardens as they meet with fellow community members over plates of good food and live music.
The first annual San Marino Day at The Huntington takes place Tuesday, April 5, from 4 – 7:30 p.m. The free, special event for the entire San Marino community will feature fun family activities, including a preview of the San Marino Centennial Photo Project, a display of artwork from San Marino High School’s Honors Humanities seminar, live music from the San Marino Community Band, a photo booth and a classic car and fire truck display. All the gardens, art galleries and The Huntington store will be open.
As part of the event, the San Marino Chamber of Commerce will host ‘An Evening at The Huntington,’ with food and beverages from local restaurants. Additional food and beverages will be provided by The Huntington.
According to Randy Shulman, The Huntington’s vice president for advancement, the last time the institution held this kind of community gathering was in the 1970s.
“We are happy to share The Huntington so that we can all come together and celebrate our community and the special qualities of The Huntington. We hope this will be an annual event,” Shulman said.
The event gives the San Marino Chamber of Commerce a second bite at the apple. Their annual event in the third week of May, 2015 was washed out by a rainstorm.
“It was out of our hands relative to the weather event,” said Stewart Rogers, president of the Chamber of Commerce. “We had that decision come down to the last minutes. It has always been feast or famine. The one the year prior was over 100 degrees and then to have the waterworks this past year.”
Rogers said the Chamber’s entry, with live music, food and prizes, is “an event within an event.”
“The Huntington is the envelope,” he said. “We will be at the core of where all the action is. We have our normal agenda – all the things that chambers like to do and we will play our program within their program.”
The chamber will have a presence at the south end of the Education and Visitors Center, near the Shakespeare Garden.
“We are so happy to be partnered with the library,” Rogers continued. “They have the grand vision for San Marino Day and they would like us to partner with them. We are very excited. And the fact it will be free for all. This will be an amazing thing for everybody. The Huntington Library is very energized and are thinking beyond the normal paradigm. We took a good look at it to see if it was compatible and decided to participate to the fullest and make it a very exciting event for all involved.”
The event is free, but tickets are required and can be obtained at Huntington.ticketleap.com/sanmarinoday. For additional information contact Fan Wang at fwang@huntington.org or (626) 405-2123.
