Festivals Orange County

Sagging attendance figures at last month's annual Taste of Orange County festival left organizers owing restaurants tens of thousands of dollars and sparked concern that this year's event may well be the last, according to restaurateurs. A Taste of Orange County Inc., the company that puts on one of the most popular summer festivals in Orange County, is struggling to repay restaurant owners for the food sold at the 11th annual event.

In one of the opening scenes of a light-hearted new film about Sikhism, the young filmmakers pose a challenge: If every Sikh could educate 300 people about the religion, then awareness of the faith would be a reality. The filmmakers, 16-year-old twins Rasna Kaur Neelam and Harnek Singh Neelam, are doing their part in that regard. Their film ? with its tongue-in-cheek title "Iz yu ignant bout Sikhi?" ? was included in a recent Sikh festival at Chapman University. To make it, the siblings traveled around their hometown of Detroit, asking strangers what they thought when they saw Harnek's turban and what, if anything, they knew about Sikhism, the world's fifth-largest religion.

A controversial plan to use scrip to buy goods from vendors at the Orange International Street Fair may not be implemented this year as expected. City officials announced Monday that the scrip system, which would replace cash at fair vending stands, will probably be postponed until the economy and attendance at festivals in the area improve.

FAMILY Children of Many Colors Native American Powwow Native American intertribal singing, dancing, drumming, celebrating, ceremonies, arts, crafts, food and more. Teepees and other traditional dwellings will be on display. Moorpark College athletic field, 7075 Campus Road, Moorpark. 11 a.m.-10 p.m. today; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sun. $2 suggested donation per vehicle. http://www.redbirdsvision.org . San Clemente Ocean Festival "The Greatest Show on Surf" kicks off its 34th year with sand-and-sea-related activities for the entire family at the San Clemente Ocean Festival.

A dozen costumed dancers--some dressed as bug-eyed reptiles, others as colorful toucans--will use props and puppets to invoke the flora, fauna and misty magic of the rain forest for the 14th annual Imagination Celebration, April 17-May 2 throughout Orange County. "Rainforest," to be staged at the Orange County Performing Arts Center on April 29 by the Denver-based David Taylor Dance Theatre, is billed as a highlight of the youth arts festival.

Buddhist temples are setting up chairs to prepare for late night services today. Little Saigon stores are doing booming business selling red money envelopes to be given out Saturday. And people are leaving grocery stores loaded with fruits and fresh flowers to display on altars for the coming week. For the Vietnamese people, Saturday will mark the beginning of the new year, or Tet--a time to show love and respect for one another through wishes and gifts.

When Sean and Giana Pham left Vietnam for the United States in 1975, one thing they didn't leave behind was their deep appreciation for the popular music of their homeland. Once in this country, they developed another love: contemporary Western jazz. Combining these two passions has resulted in one of the most unusual musical hybrids in the world of jazz fusion.

Benson & Hedges is gone, but the blues remain at the Pacific Amphitheatre. Those blues fans who felt queasy about attending a festival sponsored by a cigarette manufacturer (they even passed out samples during the first show in 1990) will be glad to hear that Benson & Hedges is no longer involved, but the festival has endured. And this year's lineup features a powerful mix of performers. Sunday's Blues Festival '92 features B.B.

With a going-away tune from a singing cowboy and blessings from the Mission San Juan ringing in their ears, 200 horsemen rode through the downtown streets of San Juan Capistrano and out into the wilderness on Friday. A celebration of South County's original Spanish settlers and massive exercise in male bonding, the 32nd annual Viaje de Portola will make a 30-mile circle over about three days.

Relocating a hot-air balloon festival venue farther from a Tustin neighborhood has deflated fears of many residents about the event, which will feature performances by the Beach Boys, Randy Travis and America. The three-day festival will be staged farther away from a residential area than had been planned, and one of the proposed parking lots has been eliminated.

Last year, Orange County artist Marshall Feduk attempted to get a documentary made about the annual Orange International Street Fair. He couldn't raise the money in time, however--and that turned out to be just fine with local law enforcement officials. They worried that a film extolling the virtues of the city's already teeming event might increase attendance to unmanageable levels.

Fiestas Patrias, the annual weekend celebration commemorating Mexican Independence Day, has been renamed. This year's downtown festival, Sept. 15 and 16, will be called Fiesta of the Americas, said Frank Palmer, one of the businesspeople helping organize the event that typically attracts thousands. The old name might have made the festival seem like a Mexican event, and the new name is intended to send a message that everybody is welcome, organizers said.

Thousands of people gathered at UC Irvine on Saturday for the 13th annual Orange County Gay and Lesbian Pride Festival. But to many in attendance, the festival had more the feel of an old-fashioned street fair than an urban celebration. "There is a real neighborhood feel here," said Jeff Stanton, 37, of Santa Ana. "It's just more of a place to get together once a year and to identify."

The Philharmonic Society's third annual Eclectic Orange Festival will incorporate a musical exhibit at the Orange County Museum of Art and also draw for the first time on a Long Beach Opera production, among other newly announced events. The "You Are Hear" exhibit at the Orange County museum, from Oct. 6-29, will include events and artworks.

After a controversial decision last year to move the Heritage Festival out of Old Town Placentia, organizers of the annual event want the shift to be permanent. Heritage Festival Committee members voted 6 to 2 Wednesday to recommend that the 37-year-old festival and parade be moved indefinitely to Tri-City Park, where there is more room to accommodate the growing number of people attending the events. The City Council is scheduled to vote on the proposal Jan. 16.

Choreographer Mark Morris' lively staging of Rameau's comic opera, "Platee," will open the Eclectic Orange Festival 2001 on Sept. 28-29 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. Rameau's 18th-century opera-ballet will be presented by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County in association with Opera Pacific. French tenor Jean-Paul Fouchecourt, who created the role for Morris' production at the 1997 Edinburgh Festival, will sing Platee.

More than 60,000 people are expected to attend the 46th annual Corn Festival, which began Friday night and continues today with a parade at 9:30 a.m. Featuring celebrities, marching bands, horse groups, antique cars and floats, it will travel about a mile east on La Habra Boulevard from Idaho Street to El Centro-Lions Park on Cypress Street. This year's grand marshal is Paul Goldenberg, a local businessman and philanthropist.

The two girls in pink and peach summer dresses swung their handbags and walked briskly past the many booths, debating pluses and minuses of the foods offered at Saturday's A Taste of Orange County. "I swear that looks like a spider," said Gina Lynch, 13, of Irvine, giggling and pointing to a picture of a fried soft-shell crab above the stall of Tommy Tang's restaurant. "I'm willing to try new food, but I'm not that brave."

Two dozen candle-bearing artists gathered on the Festival of Arts grounds at sundown Tuesday to celebrate the final session of the governing board that had sought to move the long-running summer event from Laguna Beach. Five of the board members were recalled last month for trying to relocate the 68-year-old institution to San Clemente.

Mission San Juan Capistrano will host its annual Pirates Festival from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday to commemorate Argentine pirate Hippolyte Bouchard's raid on the Mission in 1818. The event will feature a reenactment of the raid by live actors in costume, historical presentations, food, music and specially themed entertainment. Prizes will be given to guests with the best costumes--pirate, Spaniard or Indian. The raid reenactment will be at 4 p.m.