Forest Avenue Comes Alive with the Sound of Music

Photo courtesy of Sister City Association Senegalese songstress Amélie M'Baye will reprise her performance of last June during the street music celebration along Forest Avenue, planned for this Saturday. Forest Avenue will be alive with the sound of music from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p m. on Saturday, June 20, when the Laguna Beach Sister Cities Association sponsors their second annual "Fête de la Musique." The event celebrates the arrival of summer and Laguna's sister city, Menton, France, with an eclectic variety of free street music.

The Third Street Strutters, a seven-piece Dixieland band, will get things going at 11:30 a m. before the opening ceremony begins at noon in the rose garden of the Presbyterian Church. In addition to brief speeches by American and French dignitaries, the ceremony will feature the Bolling League, a classical/jazz ensemble that performs the works of French composer Claude Bolling; local soloists singing the national anthems of the United States and France; and a sing-along led by Senegalese songstress Amélie M'Baye.

Thereafter, professional and amateur musicians from many musical genres including jazz, mariachi, rock, classical, bluegrass, and country, will populate Forest Avenue at the following locations: the Lumberyard's patio, the Presbyterian Church rose garden, the patio at Sundried Tomato, and the sidewalk outside Tuvalu, Three Foxes Trot, Bushard's Pharmacy, Fingerhut Gallery, and Crystal Images. The fun wraps up with mariachi music and a sing-along finale featuring many of the musical groups on the cobblestones at Main Beach.

For more info about the Laguna Beach Sister City Association or membership, contact Nancy Beverage at nbeverage@aol. com or call Karyn Philippsen at 492-0883.