Buddha entry.
It was another wonderful day in Mar Vista, and the Mar Vista Farmer’s Market was a great spot to celebrate Cinco de Mayo a day late!
There were Mariachis, a piñata, and students from Grand View Elementary’s Dual Language Program performed a dance.


Peaches have arrived, although they may need to ripen a bit more...
Hunger Action LA was doing SNAP sign-ups,
Here’s Dave from County Line Harvest,
Large Marge was doing a cooking demo,
and the Arts and Crafts Collective was set up in a new spot – by the laundromat.
Special thanks to Diana Rodgers, Market Manager, who provided the photos for today’s post!
Inspired by the viral film, Caine’s Arcade, some Mar Vista kids made their own cardboard arcade.
The Mar Vista Community Council has formed a Volunteer Committee. It’s called Mar Vista Volunteers and they are putting out a call! Volunteers are needed on Saturday, May 12, 2012 to help serve dinner for OPCC, at Turning Point Transitional Housing. Please see below for more information.
Mar Vista Volunteers is going to conduct our first volunteer activity at OPCC (Ocean Park Community Center). They have several sites, and the one we will volunteer at is called Turning Point Transitional Housing. This is a 55-bed shelter for homeless adults, providing housing and supportive services for residents for up to nine months, with the goal of preparing them to live independently. The shelter is located at 1447 16th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90404, between Santa Monica Blvd. and Broadway.
We will be cooking and serving dinner for the residents on Saturday, May 12th and also packing sack lunches for the residents for the following day. We will prepare pasta and a bolognese sauce, a crisp salad and premade cookies or cake for dessert. The food for the event is being donated by our local Whole Foods on National and Barrington. Some of their team members are also interested in joining us in this volunteer activity.
Dinner is served at 6:00 p.m. at Turning Point, so we will be there for three to four hours, starting at 3:00 p.m.
To sign up as a volunteer and receive emails about upcoming Mar Vista volunteer events, you can go to http://www.marvista.org/volunteer to sign up.
It was an absolutely gorgeous day at the Mar Vista Farmer’s Market today, with several new vendors to let you know about: County Line Harvest is a new local organic farm with beautiful produce.

EVO Farm was there to sell the delicious-looking hydroponically-grown lettuce they grow. 
Volunteers from Occupy LA were on hand to spread awareness about Hunger Action LA and the Cal Fresh Program in Los Angeles – and they will be back next week to sign people up who qualify for Food Stamps.
Alejandra was helping kids make butterfly crafts.
We were entertained by the Ellyn Maybe Band with music and spoken word poetry.
And new vendor Masa Artisan Gourmet Tamales had terrific tamales for taking home and cooking later.
In the Green Booth, the Ballona Institute was there to educate us about the plight of the Wetlands.
Be sure to visit the market next week – May 6, 2012 – for their Annual Cinco de Mayo celebration!