Calabasas plans for cultural festival

The second annual Calabasas Cultural Festival at Old Town, presented by the Calabasas Arts Council, will be celebrated from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sat., Oct. 5 at the Leonis Adobe Museum, 23537 Calabasas Road.

The free event will feature exhibitions, dance, music and art. Attendees will celebrate the city’s historic past as the "Last of the Old West" on the three-acre museum site as part of the observance of National Arts and Humanities Month and the L.A. Countywide Arts Open House.

Daylong activities will include displays of fine arts and crafts with a Western theme, wildlife and farm animal exhibitions, children’s art activities and docents colorfully costumed as Spanish and Western settlers leading tours of the museum. The Leonis Adobe, originally built around 1844, is a living history museum with artifacts from the 1800s.

The public is invited to attend decked out in their best "cowboy duds." Prizes will be awarded for "best Western outfit."

Day-long entertainment will include a flamenco dance performance by Corina Del Sol; bluegrass, folk and country music performed on the verandah by Savannah; a classical guitar performance that will include the popular "Malaguena"; and dancing from noon to 3 p.m. to the salsa- jazz-flamenco music of Acoustic Journey, a group that plays a fusion of flamenco and jazz and features two acoustic guitarists.

The lineup of local entertainment includes the jazz band, hand bell choir and all-student puppets theater from Highland Hall School; the hip hop and ballet Olympic dance routines performed by A Step in Time School of Dance; and square dance demonstrations by the Traildusters, Buckles & Bows and the Valley Trailers. The audience will be invited to dance along with the square dance groups as well as learn the flamenco with Corina Del sol.

For more information, please call the Calabasas Arts Council at (818) 878-4242, ext. 270.