Friday, September 18, 2026

Altadena Musicians Take Three of Six Stage Slots as Pasadena ARTWalk Returns to Green Street This Weekend

Three of the six musicians booked for this weekend’s Pasadena ARTWalk will perform under the banner of Altadena Musicians, the nonprofit Brandon Jay started after his family lost their home and recording studio in the Eaton fire.

The 18th annual ARTWalk takes over Green Street between Los Robles and El Molino avenues on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 19 and 20, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is free, more than 180 hand-selected artisans are booked, and the roster includes Altadena makers who lost homes and studios in the January 2025 fire.

Céleigh Chapman opens Saturday at 11 a.m., followed by Ryan Vosika from noon to 2 p.m. Kevin Sandbloom plays Sunday from noon to 2 p.m. All three are listed under Altadena Musicians on the organizer’s schedule. Rusty Perez performs both days from 2 to 4 p.m., Ricky England both days from 4 to 6 p.m., and Felipe Saray opens Sunday at 11 a.m.

Gloria Baghdassarian, event coordinator at Jackalope Arts, which produces the fair in partnership with the Playhouse Village Association, said the company found the nonprofit online. “They’re a really cool nonprofit organization that raises money for musicians who lost their instruments and equipment in Eaton Fire,” she said. “And I feel really lucky that we get to play a part in giving them a platform for people to meet them.”

Altadena Musicians says it has gotten more than 1,500 instruments and more than 1,300 albums back into the hands of people who lost theirs in the Eaton and Palisades fires. The organization runs Instrumental Giving, a registry where musicians list gear lost in the fires and donors help replace it, and operates the Altadena Music Center, which it describes as an outgrowth of the instrument replacement program offering free and low-cost entertainment, workshops and all-ages live music.

Baghdassarian grew up in Altadena and Pasadena. Asked what it means to produce the fair in the second year after the Eaton Fire, she said: “It is honestly, it’s really surreal.” She added: “Having grown up in Altadena and Pasadena, it feels really special to be part of an event that is so focused on just bringing communities together.”

“And in regards to the Eaton Fire, it’s also just a really cool thing to see that even after something so devastating, you can still see that our little community here is still filled with so much connection and creativity,” she said.

Two of this year’s artisans came to the fair by way of the fire. Heather C. Morrow, listed among the ARTWalk’s artisan highlights, lost her Altadena home of 17 years and her ceramic studio when the Eaton Fire swept through on Jan. 7, 2025. She turned to photography, premiered an exhibit titled “Bearing Witness: Fragments of Humanity” at a San Gabriel gallery, and has since been building a portrait project on fire survivors titled “Identity Lost: Eaton Fire Survivors Rising from the Ashes.”

“I absolutely love her work and love seeing her get back into it following the devastating fire,” Baghdassarian said.

Altadena Maid Products, the native wildflower seed business run by René Amy, holds booth 132. Amy, who lost his home in the Eaton Fire, created the Great Altadena Poppy Project, which set out to sow some 250 million California poppy seeds across roughly 700 fire-impacted properties at no cost to the owners.

“He is probably one of the most active activists in Altadena. He’s the creator of the Great Altadena Poppy Project,” Baghdassarian said, adding that “he’s one of our artisans and he is just doing really cool work and is an inspiration to us all for sure.”

Applications opened in March and every artisan was booked by the end of June, Baghdassarian said. Selection runs through a panel: “we have a jury that looks at each and every application individually, and we try to create a really diverse mix across the fair of entirely handmade work,” she said. The ARTWalk, she added, “leans more towards having fine art along with handmade art work of all kinds.”

The fair predates Jackalope’s involvement. Brian Wallace, president of the Playhouse Village Association, said in written responses that the event “was launched in 2006 as a way to expand the already successful ArtNight Pasadena, and created the inaugural Pasadena ART Weekend of community events in Pasadena in partnership with City of Pasadena.” He said the edition count leaves out the years the event was paused but includes the 2020 edition, which was canceled after it had been marketed and after artists had applied.

The association was formed in 1996 as the Playhouse District Association. In 2001 its members, property owners and business owners formed a property-based business improvement district, which pools private dollars for the 32-block Playhouse Village under an 11-member board representing property owners, businesses and institutions.

Wallace said the fair “draws over 5,000 visitors to Playhouse Village over one weekend, increasing foot traffic, exposing businesses to potential new customers, and reinforcing Playhouse Village as the arts district of Pasadena,” and called it “the PVA’s largest single event from a size and attendance perspective.”

On the mechanics of closing the street, Wallace said: “Since Pasadena ARTWalk is our longest running signature event, PVA and the businesses and properties in that area have many years of experience with the street closures, plus we also have the additional event experience from our partners Jackalope Arts.” Jackalope, he said, “has grown the event in size and scope in recent years, which has allowed the PVA to produce many other smaller events, particularly at Playhouse Village Park.”

Away from the booths, Jackalope Gives, the company’s nonprofit arm, hosts free fan coloring and decoration at the information booth. Drawn2Art runs a children’s drawing workshop both days from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at booth Oakland-2, and First United Methodist of Pasadena leads a free collaborative community art project using upcycled materials at the same booth on Saturday only, from 3 to 6 p.m.

Other stations include tarot readings from Fox & The Empress at Oakland-4, handmade watercolor testing with Water and Whimsy at Oakland-5, DIY bath and body kits from Wunderkits at Oakland-6, wildflower planters and coloring pages with Brella at Oakland-7, hair sparklers from Lucky Locks at booth I, and caricature portraits from Chubby Beagle Productions at booth 81. Fifteen food and drink vendors are listed on the event map.

Jackalope’s next Pasadena fair, at Central Park in Old Pasadena, is set for Nov. 14 and 15.

Pasadena ARTWalk runs Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 19 and 20, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is free. The fair is on Green Street between Los Robles and El Molino avenues in Playhouse Village; use 561 E. Green St., Pasadena, to navigate to a midpoint. Organizers recommend ride sharing and public transportation and note one-hour street parking nearby, with additional parking areas north and south of Colorado Boulevard. The site is outdoors, open to all ages and handicap accessible, and leashed pets are welcome. For more, call 323-989-2278 or visit jackalopeartfair.com/pasadena-artwalk.