OB Street Fair

Mike James: The First Ocean Beach Street Fair

June 13, 2019 by Source
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Originally posted June 26, 2009

by Mike James

As co-chair of the first Street Fair, I must set the record straight. This year’s 30th Annual Street Fair is actually the 28th.

The first street fair which took place July 4th, 1982 and was an expansion of the Fireworks Festival which began in 1980 (hence the 30th anniversary).

Sponsored by the Ocean Beach Merchants Association and KPRI Radio, the event was held on the 4900 and 5000 blocks of Newport Ave. With no vendors and a crowd in the hundreds, it seemed somewhat bare compared to the hundreds of vendors and the tens of thousands that show up now a days.

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OB VFW Looks to Clear the Air With Public Meeting Today – Jan. 28th

January 28, 2011 by Andy Cohen
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A group of local residents and business owners near the future new home of the OB VFW Outpost 1392 are seeking to block the VFW from opening its doors. Local members of the area’s neighborhood watch activated their email tree to express their concern over what they view as an unsuitable replacement for the restaurant […]

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OB Street Fair T-Shirts Ripped Off!!

June 8, 2010 by Staff
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The folks who run the OB Street Fair have a new heartache. Someone broke into one of their volunteers’ cars and besides taking personal items, also escounced with a box of Street Fair T-shirts.

The T-shirts stolen were in a huge box of mostly men’s tanks in black and a number of small and medium size men’s T-shirts. Volunteers were taking boxes home to fold the T-shirts over the weekend and bam! . . . some bad guy a steals one of the boxes. The t-shirts were all printed by the James Gang and are sold to raise money for the Street Fair, Fireworks and lots of OB projects. All the shirts have the street fair logo (two sandals, stars and the words “Ocean Beach Street Fair & Chili Cook-Off Festival”) on them.

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Buy the WAVES CD and Help Out the OB Rag

March 26, 2010 by Dave Gilbert
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Editor: The OB Rag and the OB Mainstreet Association have worked out a deal: you buy the WAVES CD from them for $10 – and OBMA will send us 20%. You can buy the CD at their office at 1868 Bacon Street #A or from Claudia Jack, who sells them every Wednesday at Farmers Market at the OBMA booth near Wings. You have to say that you saw this deal on the blog or on the OB Rag.

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OB Rag awarded by OBMA for annual Street Fair coverage

October 23, 2009 by Staff
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OCEAN BEACH, CA. Last night 10/22/09 at the Masonic Temple, the OB Rag received a special award from the Ocean Beach Mainstreet Association for our coverage of OB’s annual Street Fair held last June.

OBMA awarded the blog a 2009 Community Partner Award “For outstanding coverage of the 30th Annual Street Fair & Chili Cook-Off Festival”. Doug Porter and Frank Gormlie accepted the plaque on behalf of the website. Others from OB Rag attending were Lane Tobias and Gary Gilmore – who is also on the OBMA Board of Directors.
It is true that the OB Rag’s coverage of the Street Fair was awesome!

Here’s a break-down of the scope and breadth of what we presented : ….

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Show Me the Money – Part II – Where Did the Street Fair Money Go?

July 11, 2009 by Gary Gilmore
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by Gary Gilmore

The rockets’ red glare is gone. The echoes of the bombs bursting in air have faded. The volleys of marshmallows have been put to rest for another year. It’s time for an accounting. Where did all the money go?

At the risk of tainting the innocent pleasure that our fireworks bring to the happy hordes of revelers that flock to our little beach town on this holiday I’m going to tell you what they cost.

Twenty five grand. $25,000. …

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The Lost Street Fair Photos

July 2, 2009 by Jeff Stone
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Diligent researchers at the OB Rag blog have just unearthed an entire batch of foggotten photos from OB’s Street Fair held last weekend.

These photos, by Jeff Stone, cover a variety of subjects. We need assistance however in determining who is in the photos. So if you see someone or some band you know, give us a shout-out.

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A Hot (Chili) Time in OB – The Winners!

June 29, 2009 by Staff
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By OB Rag Staffer

AND THE WINNERS ARE …. we have them!

It’s that time of year again when things really heat up in OB. It’s the Annual Chili Cookoff. …
The Chili Cookoff took place at the lawn on Abbott Street just south of the Lifeguard Tower. There were about 25 booths set up around the perimeter of the lawn.

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It Isn’t News When Mostly Good Things Happen at the OB Street Fair

June 29, 2009 by Doug Porter
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by Doug Porter

Enough people to constitute a small city filled the streets of Ocean Beach this weekend for the 30th Annual OB Street Fair.

But it wasn’t newsworthy enough to merit coverage in our daily newspaper. Nada. Not a picture. Not a story.

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The Lot of the Street Fair Vendor in OB Enchanted Land

June 29, 2009 by Frank Gormlie
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by Frank Gormlie

We drove into Ocean Beach for the Street Fair intending to take an outsider’s view. With the bumper-to-bumper traffic coming in on Sunset Cliffs and then on West Point Loma, with everybody on the sidewalks streaming south, it truly looked like OB was part of a theme park – OB Enchanted Land.

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Street Fair: OB sure knows how to party

June 29, 2009 by Mary E. Mann
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by Mary E Mann

Among the many things I can say about Ocean Beach, one is that this community sure knows how to get behind a party.

According to friends of mine, OB old-timers, this year’s Street Fair was tame. No longer are people allowed to drink openly in the streets, for one thing.

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Free Speech in the Streets at the OB Fair

June 29, 2009 by Anna Daniels
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My beloved and I were headed into Artist Alley. It was slow going through the crowd back to the stage area. Richard grabbed my arm and said “check out the signs.”

He read out loud “Don’t Go to Hell” printed on one and then “Read Bible for Details” on another. “It gets better,” he added. “It seems that certain restrictions apply—check them out.”

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‘We all had a great time’ – musically speaking – at the OB Street Fair

June 28, 2009 by Dave Gilbert

by Dave Gilbert

I love the OB street fair! I look forward to it the way a kid looks forward to Christmas. Yesterday’s was certainly no exception. I got an early start and showed up around 10 a.m. because my plan was to catch both John Taffola’s set and Bart Mendoza’s band the Shambles set too, but the best laid plans…. I caught one song by the School of Rock, (Somebody to Love) before I headed to the ATM to procure some 20’s.

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More Photos! OB Street Fair 2009

June 28, 2009 by Staff

We’ve received more photos from our own Wireless Mike and another good friend of the Rag, R. Kacmar. Look for an upcoming article by Wireless Mike on the Chili Cook Off and check out other photos taken by R. Kacmar’s in Anna’s post, Trolley Tales, about the the trolley service to the Street Fair. Looking […]

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Trolley Tales – OB Street Fair 2009

June 28, 2009 by Anna Daniels

9:30 am. We arrived at the Sea World Drive parking lot shortly after Gary Gilmore had opened the gate-with bolt cutters. Gary says this has become an annual tradition. The gate is never opened by the City as planned and Gary has learned to never leave home on this day without the OBMA bolt cutters.

Two shiny Old Town Trolleys were waiting there …

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Vendorland at the Fair – Street Level

June 28, 2009 by Lane Tobias
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by Lane Tobias

Treated to a beautiful San Diego summer day, thousands of people flocked to OB to take part in the 30th incarnation of the Ocean Beach Street Fair and Chili Cook-Off Festival. …

As for the vendors, the very people who make this fair the bustling event that it is, it was obvious even before the crowds started showing up around 2:00pm who was going to have a good day.

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OB Street Fair: Da Bomb – Photos

June 28, 2009 by Staff

After the historic 30th annual OB Street Fair, the seaside beach community nurses its hangover from the day of partying.

It was a picture-perfect day for OB’s annual street festival, its Chili-Cook-off, the bands, the vendors, the food, the festivities and crowds.

Here’s the first crop of photos, taken by Doug Porter and Jeff Stone. We’ll be adding more as they come in!

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OB Street Fair: SHOW ME THE MONEY!!

June 27, 2009 by Gary Gilmore
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by Gary Gilmore

There’s more to our little Street Fair than chili, music, beer & good times.

What makes this whole extravaganza tick is money. That’s right, crass as it may seem, it’s money that makes the Street Fair go ‘round.

All 250 vendors (give or take a few) with their colorful booths, … had to fork over $365 bucks each …

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Ride the Trolley to the OB Street Fair

June 26, 2009 by Anna Daniels
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Why hassle with trying to find a parking space when you can be eating chili and groovin’ to the tunes this Saturday? If you are one of the 70,000 people anticipated to attend the fair, and if you are driving, you can park at two locations, take a trolley and leave the hassles to Larry, Curley and Bob. And it’s FREE!

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Some Like It Hot – Getting Ready for the OB Chili Cook Off

June 25, 2009 by Doug Porter
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As part of the OB Rag’s team coverage of the 30th Annual Ocean Beach Street Fair & Chili Cook Off, we’re presenting this little “warm up” for Saturday’s Chili Cook Off.

We’ll have our own correspondent “embedded” deep within this fierce competition.

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Let’s Get This Party Started! OB Rag Coverage of the 30th Annual Street Fair Starts Today

June 24, 2009 by Doug Porter
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All systems appear to be “go” for this weekend’s big bash. With a little luck, 70,000 people will drop in for some fun in OB this weekend. The organizing committee for the 30th Annual Ocean Beach Street Fair & Chili Cook Off had their final meeting Monday evening at the Ocean Beach Main Street Association offices on Bacon Street.

A couple of details that you need to know: …

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Phallic Logic? Local Wingnuts Aim At Street Fair – June 27th

June 17, 2009 by Doug Porter
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by Douglas Porter

The local blogosphere is chock full of rumors that Union Tribune editorial writer Chris Reed is readying a post exposing the Ocean Beach Street Fair & Chili Cookoff’s connections to organized labor groups. Reed, who spent his formative years undergoing ideological training at The Orange County Register, joined the UT in 2005 and pens the paper’s online sop to wingnuts entitled “America’s Finest Blog”.

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Count-Down to the 30th Annual OB Street Fair

June 2, 2009 by Doug Porter
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by Doug Porter

The 30th Annual Ocean Beach Street Fair and Chili Cook-Off Festival is just a few weeks away (Saturday, June 27th). I attended a working meeting at the OB Main Street Assn offices this week…,the biggest news about this years’ event is that all the bands will be from Ocean Beach.

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