People teetering around on stilts, pottery demonstrations, live music, and of course Culinary Art’s tasty ice cream sandwhiches, all created the eclectic, creative envioroment that conveyed the artistic edge present at SDA and all of Encinitas.

Saturday, March 29, the city of Encinitas held the Encinitas Arts Festival at San Dieguito Academy from noon to 4 p.m.

The festival consisted of booths, various performances on the PAC stage, food from Culinary Arts, showcases of student art, and special events inside both the theater and band room.

“It’s a very celebratory event,” said SDA music teacher Jeremy Wuertz. “It’s so nice to see so many artistic contributions from different facets of the visual and performing arts.”

From booths scattered across the grass courtyard in front of the PAC, local artists sold paintings, pottery and other art, or Encinitas residents promoted organizations like The Surfing Madonna Ocean Project, Relay for Life, and Encinitas Friends of the Arts.

SDA culinary arts students had their own booth, run by about 10 students and teacher Scott Huntley. They sold vegan falafel sandwiches, three kinds of ice-cream sandwiches, and freshly baked bread.

Senior Lucas Kerr, a student who worked at the booth and helped make the food, said the event went pretty well and they were able to make around $800 in profit, all of which goes towards the program.

“We make a lot of awesome things in culinary arts and it’s fun to help Huntley out and make money for him so the program can go on,” said Kerr.

In addition to the booths, students and community members participated in performances on the PAC stage that showcased their artistic talents. Performances included cultural dancers, The Coastals Community Band, and SDA’s concert band.

“It’s a great opportunity for us [SDA Concert Band] to play for the community at large and it lets people know there’s arts education at our schools and it’s a very vibrant part of our school,” said Wuertz.

Besides the outdoor performances, there were events and shows going on inside the PAC as well. There was a battle of the bands, also organized by the city, put on inside of the band room where high school students and well as some SDA alumni performed throughout the afternoon. Bands and soloists that participated included The Elements, House of Cards, All Mixed Up, Kennedy Tracy, Cordelia Degher, Ticeratropical, and Second Cousins.

Inside the theater were various dance performances spanning from ballet to folk to Indian classical to Chinese and a final performance of “Bye Bye Birdie” by the North County School of the Arts.

Overall, Wuertz found the event to span a wide range of ages but have an “Encinitas flare,” especially with regards to SDA students.

“Being on our campus we have a lot of students that know about it because it is really well promoted,” he said.

One student, junior Becca Sullivan, said she really enjoyed all the booths and performances.

“It was super rad so I’d definitely go back next year,” said Sullivan.