CARLSBAD: Street fair set for Sunday

Annual event features 900 booths

By BARBARA HENRY - Staff Writer | Tuesday, October 28, 2008 5:40 PM PDT ∞

CARLSBAD ---- Toe sock seller Joe Patterson will make his debut Sunday at the annual holiday shopping extravaganza known as the Carlsbad Village Street Faire, a massive downtown event that features hundreds of vendors selling items that range from the crazy to the commonplace.

What's a toe sock? Well, from Patterson's viewpoint, it's something that most everyone might need. His patented sock design features pockets for each toe and raised rubber dots on the sock's bottom for traction.

Flip-flop wearing surfers find them cozy on cool days, yoga enthusiasts love them year-round, and anyone who wants the feeling of being nearly barefoot might like them, the Carlsbad man said.

But Patterson will have to work hard to attract shoppers' attention at the massive downtown street fair, which covers portions of Grand Avenue and State Street. His booth is one of 900 that is trying to collect cash off the some 100,000 shoppers expected at the event.

Sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, the event has been a fall tradition in Carlsbad for 34 years. The chamber also hosts a spring shoppers' paradise each year in early May.

Some shoppers come every year to do their holiday gift-buying at the fall event ---- they even plan their family vacations around it, said Angela Holman, chamber spokeswoman.

Hours for Sunday's event are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., but some people get there at dawn to look over their shopping options hours before they can start buying, she said.

Despite the grim national economic news of late, chamber officials are expecting their event to be as successful as usual.

"We have just as many vendors as always," Holman said. "No matter what, people still need to buy Christmas gifts."

Among the shopping options are designer sunglasses, tiny dish gardens, waterless carwash products and scarves made by a woman whose clients include Hollywood celebrities.

Typically, parking is extremely hard to find along downtown streets during the event, so the chamber runs shuttle buses from the Westfield Plaza Camino Real shopping mall on El Camino Real and the transit district's Poinsettia Coaster Station on Avenida Encinas.

Carlsbad Village Street Faire

When: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday

Where: Grand Avenue from Carlsbad Boulevard to Jefferson Street, and all of the cross streets

What's planned: About 900 sales booths, a children's play zone with rides and crafts; a beer garden with big-screen TV

Affiliated event: The Kiwanis Club of Carlsbad's pancake breakfast from 7 a.m. to noon at the Carlsbad Convention & Visitors Bureau on Carlsbad Village Drive. Meal includes pancakes, sausage, coffee and juice.

Shuttle bus lots: Northwest corner of Sears at Westfield Plaza Camino Real (Highway 78 and Jefferson) and at the Poinsettia Coaster Station (Poinsettia exit off of Interstate 5).

Info: www.carlsbad.org