San Diego: Weekender or day trip by rail for EarthFair 2009

Los Angeles and surrounds offer places aplenty to celebrate Earth Day with other fans of the planet this coming weekend. (Earth Day is actually April 22.) But if you’re looking to get out of town, San Diego is a great destination - more specifically, Balboa Park for EarthFair 2009, which bills itself as “the largest free annual environmental fair in the world.”

The volunteer-organized festival, on Sunday, April 19, will feature over 400 exhibitors; many kids’ activities, including a Children’s Earth Parade (at 10:30 a.m.); a vegetarian food pavilion; a gallery showcasing artworks made with recycled materials; three stages of musical and other entertainment; an eHome exhibit area with environmentally sustainable products for home and home building; and a Cleaner Car Concourse showcasing alternative-fuel vehicles.

Time: The event will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and over 60,000 people are expected to attend, which means that you can expect parking to be a nightmare if you arrive after 10:30 a.m.

Getting there: To avoid hassles — as well as do your part for the event’s guest of honor, Mother Earth — organizers recommend biking, walking or using public transportation to get to the festival. A free shuttle service is also available from nearby lots. See the event website for more details.

From L.A., you could even make it down to San Diego by rail (and then by bus to the park from the Amtrak station). Take a Pacific Surfliner train from Union Station in the morning and return in the evening. Sure, you’ll be spending over five hours aboard the train, and $58 total round-trip fare, but it could be a fun and unusual adventure.

Of course, San Diego offers plenty of hotel beds if you want to make a weekend out of it. That’s probably the saner option.

Contact: San Diego EarthWorks

- Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times

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This entry was posted on Thursday, April 16, 2009 at 3:29 pm by Susan Derby and is filed under California, Eco-Travel, Family & Kids, Festival, Last Minute, San Diego. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.