Just got the bullet from Julie Sandoval, mistress of the Coffee Gallery, who is spearheading the first Altadena Music & Arts Festival at Loma Alta Park this Sun.,  July 26, 10 AM – 3 PM.

“I serve a lot of artists in the Coffee Gallery, and a lot of them told me that the arts festivals are too expensive for them,” Sandoval said.  Knowing the large number of artists in Altadena, she said, it just made sense to put together a festival to celebrate that community.

The festival will be in conjunction with the Naked Crow Mountain Bike Challenge taking place earlier in the park that morning, which raises funds for Altadena Meals on Wheels, the Lance Armstrong Foundation, and Ronald McDonald House.  The Altadena Rotary will be serving a pancake breakfast during the race, and will also be serving hamburgers and hot dogs at lunch time.

“This is our first time doing this arts festival — I didn’t make it that big,” Sandoval said, pointing out that they only have 20 booths, and will use the $40 per booth fee to pay the musicians.  She does plan to double the number of booths by the next festival, which will be Oct. 4, and headlined by a Beatles revival band.

Acts scheduled for Sunday’s festival include:
10 – 10:30:  Bluegrass jam
10:30-11:  Bill Burnett
11-11:10: Storyteller Leslie Perry, backed up by Robert Hilton, an Altadenan who makes his own instruments
11:10-11:30 Robert Hilton and his instruments
11:30-11:40:  Storyteller/podcaster Lance Anderson
11:40-noon:   Songnet.org
noon-1 Pirates of the Black Swan
1-1:20 Brothers Landau
1:20- 1:50   Bohemia Soul Wrestlers (which Sandoval said Bill Burnett calles “the next Association”)
1:50-215: singer/songwriter Dale LaDuke
2:15 -close  Sligo Rags

Booths include jewelers, potters, clothiers, masseuses, the Association of Fingerstyle Guitarists, and Altadena Junction.  Pirates of the Black Swan supplied the PA system for the festival.

“It’ll be awesome,” Sandoval said ” … we’ll raise a barn!”