About Encanto Cultural Arts Festival

From its inception in 1992 as a local community celebration, the Encanto Cultural Arts Festival has grown into one of California’s premier outdoor street festivals. In 1992 the Encanto Street Fair, as it was then known, hosted community performers, vendors and locally headlined entertainment. As the Encanto Street Fair evolved over the following 12 years, its size in both area and attendance increased and the nation began to take notice of the growing list of world class performers that were making the Encanto Street Fair a “must-do” on the August calendar. The Encanto Cultural Arts Festival was noted in Black Enterprise magazine as one of the largest street fairs in the country and has been a part of San Diego’s Art + Sol annual summer line-up of signature cultural events in “America’s Finest City.”

Encanto's History

by Quentin Smith

Lying just six miles east of San Diego is an area settled in the 1800's by a San Diego wholesaler named Abraham Klauber. Originally named Klauber Park, the name was changed after the explorer's daughter suggested the name Encanto which means "Enchantment."

Once a sleepy stop on the San Diego and Arizona Eastern railroad, today Encanto is San Diego's largest suburb consisting of 1,634 acres.

A commercial district which stretches 1.2 miles on Imperial Avenue reflects the culturally diverse community with historically painted murals while planted flowers and trees set within beautiful street lighted landscaping. Running side by side to the East Line Trolley which extends from downtown San Diego and has become a tourist attraction as well as a reliable mode of transportation for area residents.

With a population of just over 65,000 and a median income of $48,161, the suburban area known as Encanto runs from Federal Blvd, on the north, to Paradise Hills on the south, Euclid Avenue on the west to the city limits of Lemon Grove on the East.

15 years ago, resident businessmen and women joined in an effort to promote the cultural diversity, historical and artistic contributions, while saluting the world class musical talents found within America's Finest City. The project became known as the Encanto Street Fair. Beginning with a surprising turnout of 1,000 attendees nine years ago to a 2000 attendance record of 75,000.

On Sunday, August 17, 2008 from 10 am until 8 p.m., the Fifteenth Annual Encanto Street Fair will be held between 65th and 68th streets and Imperial Avenue. The fair is expected to double in size due to an advance booking venue of world class artists scheduled to perform.