West Hollywood is hosting a festival for the city’s Eastside on Sunday.
“Engage-A-Lot,” as the event is called, will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the parking lot at 7718 Santa Monica Blvd. located on the corner of Spaulding Avenue.
Festival-goers will enjoy fresh bread from three cultures baked at the festival by local chefs. There will be live music from Russia, the Ukraine and other areas. There will be breads by Stolichnaya Bakery and other local bakeries as well as DJ sets by dublab, and the Eastern European sounds of West Hollywood local Vladimir Malchik.
“This festival is a wonderful opportunity for Eastside neighbors — and folks throughout the city — to enjoy some coffee, a bit of culture, and most importantly, to engage a lot,” said Mayor Lauren Meister. “This will be a chance for community members to come together to provide valuable input about the Eastside Community Plan.”
Those attending the event will have an opportunity to provide feedback about the Eastside Community Plan, which will identify the needs of the Eastside and make recommendations and develop strategies to implement them. The Eastside Community Plan is a collaborative effort between the Eastside Working Group, the City of West Hollywood and the community. The Eastside Working Group is comprised of 15 Eastside community members, including residents, landlords, property owners, businesspeople, Russian community members, and representatives from nonprofit organizations.
Funding for cultural programming at Engage-A-Lot is provided by “Art on the Outside,” the City of West Hollywood’s temporary art program that installs rotating temporary artworks on the City’s medians and in parks, which is part of WeHo Arts, the City’s Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission and Arts Division.
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For more information about Engage-A-Lot, please contact Garen Srapyan, associate planner at the City of West Hollywood, at (323) 848-6827 or [email protected]. People who are deaf or hearing impaired, can call TTY (323) 848-6496.
Wow Alison Laurie. Well as my mother used to say….”every day is straight day”. It would be great to see you at the Engage-A-Lot event on Sunday. This way the straight City Council members who have organized this wonderful event for the straight community (with a Russian food and music theme, probably a good idea because I’m not sure how you would theme straight food and music). I know that I will be there to support my straight neighbors as I know that they have supported my gay friends who find refuge in this City.
As a member of the Eastside Working Group I highly encourage residents to drop by so you too can have an important voice in helping to shape the future of the Eastside Community Plan. It’s so easy to head out for a Sunday morning stroll and share your ideas, wants and needs for how you’d like to shape the Eastside’s future. We’ve made it very fun and easy to engage your input. Easy peasy. And free food and entertainment. Yes – it’s a bribe of sorts – because what we want, what we need is your voice, your input into… Read more »
Perhaps it’s the word “festival” in the headline of this post, or perhaps it’s the listed enticements to boost turnout, but something has obscured the actual purpose of this event for the casual reader. The answer is in the event’s name itself “Engage-A-Lot.” The point of Sunday is not the party. It is an effort by the City to engage the Eastside community in a discussion of issues important to it–precisely the sort of things mentioned in the two previous posts. That you may have left a comment here doesn’t mean that anyone who needs to hear it has done… Read more »
I understand the feelings of the first comment. I don’t think the City knows how to relate to the Eastside as a mixed population. Hopefully with the influx of new residents, we will be seen more as an “integrated” whole of people who live on the Eastside. It’s just geography, but then across the United States (the world?) people are all classified by where they live as well. In such a small place as West Hollywood we should be able to figure this out. We are, after all, living in a tremendously accepting and “West of the West” kind of… Read more »
The City seems to think the entire East Side is Russian. It isn’t by any stretch of the imagination. It seems that every “celebration” on the East Side is Russian or LBGT. It is very insulting to the long-timers and newcomers who are NOT Russian and who are not LGBT. What was the last thing the City did for straight people, who make up half the population?