On Saturday, May 29, the place to be was clearly the Santee Street Fair on Riverview Drive in the heart of Santee. Over 35,000 residents and visitors spent the day enjoying the food, music, and fun of over 250 booths, six bands, and a Fun Zone with rides and more. The Street Fair was the result of months of hard work and planning by the Santee Chamber of Commerce. By all accounts this year's Street Fair was an even bigger success than the first.
Entertainment was a big part of the draw. This year the Street Fair added a third stage and more bands, as well as an expanded Fun Zone with more rides and activities. New to the Fun Zone this year were a rock climbing tower and laser tag, both of which were popular with the kids, and several new rides. There were also pony rides for the youngest fair goers. A further draw for the adults was an expanded beer garden and the addition of wine to the offering.
No street fair can be a hit without food, and there were plenty of options for all. Along with such regular fair fare as shaved ice, funnel cake, and hot dogs, a number of local restaurants showcased some of their specialties. You may not think of pizza as anything special, but then you may not have tried the pizza from Italia Ristorante, a newly remodled and revived restaurant on Carlton Hills Blvd. Barbecue is always popular at fairs and carnivals, and the Street Fair had three offerings. The recently opened Smokin' Joes' Barbecue provided generous servings of its tri-tip and pulled pork sandwiches, with choice of their regular and spicy sauces. Long-time Santee eatery Pinnacle Peak also brought out the meat with ribs, chicken, and buffalo burgers. Hunter Steakhouse rounded out the grilling with generous servings of tri tip, chicken, and much more.
As before, the Community Stage featured local groups, including dance classes from the Santee Recreation Department, martial arts groups, and one amazing group of young musicians from Music Time Studio, a local music school. This group, calling itself Free Riott, included a young lady on guitar who can 'shred' with the best of them - after only a year and a half of lessons! Her younger brother plays bass, and keeps up with big sister as well as anyone taller than his instrument. If you don't believe me, check out their work on Iron Maiden's 'Wasted Years.'
The professionals were well represented by several local groups. Lindsay Spurlock, winner of the 1998 Lakeside Idol competition, kicked off the entertainment on the Main Stage starting at 11:00. Ms. Spurlock is a talented and lovely young woman with a great presence and a wonderful voice. She was backed up by a perhaps less-attractive but equally talented backup band. The second group on the Main Stage was the popular Corvettes, bringing the doo-wop and shoo-bop back to Santee. The Corvettes are always well-received, and in fact will be leading off this year's Santee Summer Concert series on June 10. Following them was the trio Outta-Sync with their "classic rock with a Detroit edge." The Main Stage entertainment finished up with Rockola, a group that always draws a large and enthusiastic crowd. Not only did the crowd have fun, but the band enjoyed themselves so much they mentioned they would be happy to play twice as long next year.
The new venue this year was the Trolley Square Amphitheater, located near the trolley tracks in the shopping center. The amphitheater is the site of the Summer Concert series, and this year showcased two groups with strong Santee ties: Blues 1-4-5 and Ramshackle. Blues 1-4-5 features members of the Padre Dam Water District and Ramshackle is fronted by Eddie Vandiver, manager of the new Sportsplex USA, which has its grand opening on Tuesday.
Along with being a showcase for Santee businesses, this year the Street Fair helped raise money and supplies for the Santee Food Bank. All visitors were encouraged to bring canned and other non-perishable food to help build up the Food Bank's supplies. Lloyds Collision Center helped by providing two fund raisers: a raffle for a $3000 custom repaint and a chance to have a picture taken with the Lloyds girls and a '57 Chevy. The final tally was not in, but both activities were quite popular.
In spite of the success of the day, the Santee Chamber of Commerce knows that there are ways the Street Fair can be improved for next year. If you attended the fair and have any ideas on how to make it better, you can email the Chamber at info@santee-chamber.org or visit their website.
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