Tag Archives: Feast Of Lanterns

Stupid Art Galleries – Paint A New Sign, Will Ya

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While Pacific Grove lays claim to many family-friendly events – the Butterfly Parade, Good Old Days and Feast of Lanterns – when the sun goes down and the grown-ups want to make merry, P.G. is reliably an early-to-bedder.

But on special Friday nights, the tide turns in the town’s favor during the aptly named Wine, Art & Music Walk.

Oh, look! There are FOUR more galleries just up the street, right?
4 art galleries

Lessee, there’s Trott’s for one
Trotters 2

The gallery with “Ol’ One Eye” for two, but it’s not even open..
One Eyed Willie

The one with the scarves and balloons for Three
Welcome To A Vacant Gallery
And that’s it. There is one former gallery or two. I lose count of ex galleries. Stupid artists, go back to Carmel..

Stupid Art Galleries – Paint A New Sign, Will Ya

Feast Of Lanterns Going Away For Undue Political Correctness

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Not This Pc Again

If this was a minority group mocking some white male American they’d just call it “Cultural Differences” and let it go.

Feast of Lanterns Board President Dixie Layne says she doesn’t know of any response, but declines further comment. Two other board members did not respond to requests for comment.

The board’s apparent unwillingness to discuss the issue perplexes P.G. Councilwoman Lisa Bennett, who notes that the festival organization is unaffiliated with the city.

“The Feast of Lanterns is one of our traditional events, and at the same time, it depicts characters who are ethnic minorities” she says. “It would be a very good thing if the Feast of Lanterns committee were open to talking to people of Chinese ancestry about it.”

Although Bennett says the play isn’t intended as discriminatory, she adds, “I don’t think it’s right nowadays to uphold a tradition that is offensive to an ethnic group. We’ve been told that it is. Now what are we going to do about it?

P.G. resident Sue Parris, chapter director of the National Coalition Building Institute, feels that the play blights an otherwise charming festival. “We do this scene of fake Chinese-ness, and there aren’t any Chinese people involved or even consulted,” she says. “That part seems so unnecessary and kind of backwards. It’s not taking into account the effects on the people who are being portrayed.”

Local historians give the play mixed reviews. Monterey Peninsula College art history teacher Kent Seavey, a P.G. resident, calls it a “nice romantic story” that has nothing to do with the historically important Chinese residents of Point Alones.

Feast Of Lanterns Going Away For Undue Political Correctness

Purse Snatchers On Lighthouse Avenue

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While all the police were at the Pet Parade.

A woman was robbed by two men in Pacific Grove Friday afternoon, moments after the Feast of Lanterns pet parade concluded, according to Cmdr. John Nyunt.

“When all of our officers were tied up on this parade, we had an individual walking at Lighthouse and 13th toward town,” he said. At about 3 p.m. July 25, two men wearing dark clothing with hoodies grabbed her purse from her.

PG Cops On Break

(picture from www.morriefisher.com)

Purse Snatchers On Lighthouse Avenue

Letters From The Editor: Feast Of Lanterns Racist?

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Fritz Liess writes

My best friend is renting a room to a Monterey Institute of International Studies student from China. This visitor was quite troubled by Thursday’s Go! section cover article about Pacific Grove’s Feast of Lanterns. We found ourselves trying to explain why white westerners put on such a pageant dressed in stereotypical Chinese costumes.

We did not have answers to the following questions: How is the Feast of Lanterns different from anti-Semitic passion plays in Europe and black-face minstrel shows of the Jim Crow South?

It’s a play, that’s all. And maybe the student should first look in the mirror and ask questions about racism in China

French Men And Dogs

Letters From The Editor: Feast Of Lanterns Racist?

Pacific Grove Feast Of Lanterns # 103

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FOL 2006

Pacific Grove’s 103rd annual Feast of Lanterns started with cake at the official opening ceremony and cake cutting Wednesday in Chautauqua Hall. (The cakes celebrated the festival’s 103rd and the city’s 119th birthdays.)

The Feast of Lanterns actually got started a few days earlier at the Tea and Fashion Show Saturday at Chautauqua Hall, where the court of eight “princesses” and the “queen” modeled vintage Feast of Lanterns costuming.

Street Dance on Lighthouse Avenue tonight. Entertainment & Fireworks on the beach tomorrow. More information at www.feastoflanterns.org

Pacific Grove Feast Of Lanterns # 103

Susan Goldbeck Wants To Return To Council

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Just when we were starting to turn the corner on the “city in trouble” thing she wants to come back and return it to the way it was when she was in office.How About No Bear

Former Pacific Grove City Councilwoman Susan Goldbeck has announced her plan to run for City Council—again. Goldbeck served on the council from 2002 to 2006 but lost her 2006 bid for mayor.

“Pacific Grove has been having some pretty tough seas lately,” says Goldbeck, a local attorney.”Maybe I can help get our little ship of state right again.”

Some Goldbeck stories from the past:

Don’t vote for her, please.

Susan Goldbeck Wants To Return To Council

Who Runs Pacific Grove?

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In Letters From The Editor

Have other people noticed whenever there is a significant controversy, including this latest episode, the P.G .Chamber of Commerce is right in the middle, its president quoted in the newspaper. Frankly, I wonder who is running this city, the chamber or our elected representatives.
Ron Sanchez
Pacific Grove

Well, the one who thinks he does is Moammar. Clueless Moe.

Moe Ammar

The Pacific Grove year is marked by seasonal celebrations. The Feast of Lanterns celebrates the culture of the Chinese fishermen who used to live along the water’s edge.

Moe refers to Pacific Grove by the words, “It’s a Small-town Thing.” He himself moved here 20 years ago. After graduating with a Hospitality degree from the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, Moe honeymooned at Pacific Grove’s Bid-a-Wee Motel. The contrast between Pacific Grove and Las Vegas captured Moe’s heart. He couldn’t wait to get back. He returned in 1986 with the intention of never leaving.

“We’re about the same as we were 50 years ago,” Moe says. “And we’re going to be the same 50 years from now, if we can help it.”

“We’re keeping something alive that shouldn’t vanish forever from our world,” Moe says. Pacific Grove is filled with residents who would agree with him.

I was here about 50 years ago and it is nowhere near the same. Once Moe moved in and said the answer lies in tourism did the small town family atmosphere cease to be. P.G. once had service stations, several grocery stores, pharmacies, a department store, a dime store, a municipal pool, multiple schools, things that served residents and families. Now we have bistros, art galleries and boutiques that change owners with the seasons, all there to fleece the vagrants. Families have moved out – there’s little for them to do in a town full of tourist attractions.

And Feast of Lanterns had nothing to do with the the Chinese fishermen, it was to celebrate the end of the Methodists’ Chautauqua Assembly. Moe is just trying to be politically correct – the Chinese fishing village was burnt down, presumably by intolerant residents.

Who Runs Pacific Grove?

Time To Start Charging For Events?

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Some events are mostly for-profit operations, like the Good Old Days on Lighthouse Avenue. Charge them but anything involving kids and family should  be exempt.

The council is expected to review the 24 special events proposed for the period March 2008 through February 2009 with an eye to seeking reimbursement for city costs from some of them.

Traditional events that have been exempt from paying city service fees have included Good Old Days, the Fourth of July Celebration, Feast of Lanterns, the Concours Auto Rally, the Butterfly Parade, Pacific Grove High School Homecoming Parade, the Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony, Downtown Holiday Parade of Lights, and Stilwell’s Snow in the Park. The council could consider seeking reimbursement during the coming year from some or all of these events.

Time To Start Charging For Events?

P.G.’s Charm Found To Be Irresistible

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Sorry mayor, there are no longtime residents left. The charm is increasingly phony.

This week’s Feast of Lanterns opening ceremonies had just that feel. On a weekday afternoon, while most people were at work, about 100 residents gathered at Chautauqua Hall to celebrate.

Older women in Chinese costumes prepared large bowls of punch while the festival’s royal court was introduced to the crowd. They invited everyone to a street dance and an ice cream social, among other gaieties. Girls performed dances.

The parents of each of the princesses and the queen stood in the back, waving when their daughters were introduced.

The scene could have been right out of a black-and-white photo.

“Does it ever occur to you that we are Leave It To Beaver-land?” Cort said. “Yeah, we are. People stop their lives for the little things … We value quality of life. We value those kinds of ’50s things. We just don’t want them to go away.”

P.G.’s Charm Found To Be Irresistible