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<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My road trip last week utilized time travel and took me back to the 60s, not age-wise, I\u2019m already back in the 60s age-wise, thank you; I\u2019m talking time-wise, like in the 1960\u2019s \u2013 you know hippies, free love, smoking banana peels and that kind of thing.\u00a0\u00a0My time travel vehicle was the Laguna Beach Sawdust Festival \u2013 not a celebration of sawdust as the name\u00a0might imply, but rather the annual arts and crafts festival showing off the wares of artist from Laguna Beach.<\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When it originally started in 1965 it featured things like macram\u00e9 dream catchers, hand-crafted turquoise peace medallions, ceramic mushrooms, guys with long hair and sandals singing anti-war songs and art work from various mediums.\u00a0 Today, it features macram\u00e9 dream catchers, hand-crafted turquoise peace medallions, ceramic mushrooms (pictured\u00a0below),\u00a0. . .\u00a0 Yep, pretty much the same stuff, but the exhibitors never intended it to be another stuffy art show. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In fact they were originally part of that \u2018stuffy art show\u2019, the Laguna Festival of Arts, when they broke away in protest of something (remember protesting anything <\/em>was very popular in those days) to form their own, not-so-stuffy festival, they wanted to make it, in the parlance of\u00a0the day, a \u2018happening\u2019.\u00a0 The media tagged this new exhibit \u2018The Rejects Festival\u2019.\u00a0 Thank goodness they used sawdust to cover the mud and dust of their new home as it provided a less-negative, albeit somewhat obscure, name for their annual show of arts and crafts.\u00a0 In spite of, or maybe because of,\u00a0the name, it\u2019s been going strong ever since.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I strolled from booth to booth examining the various works of art and often stopped to talk with the artist who were\u00a0more than willing to discuss their craft.\u00a0 Have you ever looked at a piece of art and wondered, \u2018What were they thinking?\u2019 well here was the chance to ask them.\u00a0 I watched glass being blown, I watched an artist paint a picture of a hamburger because she was hungry, I saw jewelry being shaped and welded, I saw clay pots being thrown \u2013 you know what I mean,\u00a0 and\u00a0I saw . . . wait a minute, was that John Lennon sitting in the booth making something?\u00a0 I thought I could hear Give Peace a Chance <\/em>playing in the distance.<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I passed on the mushrooms, but I bought two prints\u00a0and a pair of earrings for my wife, who tolerates my wanderlust, and headed for the exit as night was falling on the festival.\u00a0 As I crossed the parking lot the unmistakable smell of cannabis rented the air and extended my \u2018trip\u2019 to the 60s a few minutes more.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was a most delightful afternoon; I sang Imagine<\/em> in the car all the way home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bob Sparrow \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My road trip last week utilized time travel and took me back to the 60s, not age-wise, I\u2019m already back in the 60s age-wise, thank you; I\u2019m talking time-wise, like in the 1960\u2019s \u2013 you know … read more<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The festival grounds are in a Eucalyptus grove less than a mile from Laguna\u2019s Main Beach, so the sea air, the stand of Eucalyptus and the various water features therein, provide\u00a0a welcome cooling relief from the summer heat.\u00a0\u00a0Stepping through the\u00a0portal of this time warp, I am immediately hit with the smell of sawdust\u00a0which permeates the entire three acre grounds; I can hear a lone, male singer in the distance (sounds like he’s\u00a0wearing sandals), strumming his acoustical guitar and protesting something, and in front of me is something I don\u2019t see every day \u2013 a place to purchase goblets and gourds. <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There\u2019s always something playing in the distance\u00a0at the Sawdust Festival, sometimes several acts at once playing at three different venues throughout the grounds.\u00a0 If 60s rock is your thing then you\u2019d enjoy the Flatland Mountain Rock Band<\/em>; or try Acoustic Roots<\/em> who are purveyors of Bohemian Surf music (didn\u2019t even know that was a genre); or if you want your Ska Dub Roots vibe going try Worm & the Night Crawlers<\/em>.\u00a0 If you just want some good old country rock, then catch Sean Wiggins & the Lone Goat.<\/em>\u00a0 The Lone Goat?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And . . . wait is that John Lennon singing Woman,<\/a> <\/em>or is that a woman singing John Lennon? \u00a0Geez, for a guy who\u2019s been dead for almost 32 years, he sure gets around.\u00a0 I headed over to the field of ceramic mushrooms.<\/p>\n