HillQuest’s CityFest Timeline

The long-dark Hillcrest sign is taken down for repairs. Volunteers organize to raise over $4,000 for restoration of the neon sign ($670 is donated at the first fundraiser held at the Brass Rail).

University Avenue is closed as volunteer riggers hang the restored sign.

The official lighting of the sign is held with Mayor Roger Hedgecock aiding locals Gene Coster and Lucy Killea to pull the switch. Vendors set up on the closed streets around the corner of Fifth and University. The celebration of festivities lasted till after 10pm with an attendance of about 3,000.

The long-dark Hillcrest sign is taken down for repairs. Volunteers organize to raise over $4,000 for restoration of the neon sign ($670 is donated at the first fundraiser held at the Brass Rail).

After an initial cancellation, the HBA decides to continue sponsoring CityFest on the anniversary of the relighting of the sign. Entertainers included jazz singer Ella Ruth Piggee and Tobacco Road.

With a cadre of volunteers HBA President Carol Arko and Executive Director Chris Kehoe are co-chairs of this year’s event. Attendance is about 10,000.

After several years of continuous growth CityFest departs from underneath the Hillcrest sign. Concerns for emergency traffic access along University Avenue force CityFest to be relocated entirely along Fifth Avenue. HBA organizes a wine tasting event. 35,000 attend.

CityFest’s low year. Attendance drops to 30,000 while hired promoters lead the event into red ink for the second year.

Successive years of financial loss threaten to end CityFest, but an increased volunteer effort lead by Chair Cindy Lehman puts on the event for 35,000 people bringing the bottom line back into the black.

The sign is repainted and glass artist Christopher Lee adds finials of green glass balls capped with aluminum cones on the supporting poles as a public art project.

Performers include the Del Rubio Triplets. The event draws 66,000.

90,000 fans filled the streets of Hillcrest to hear Candye Kane & the Swingin’ Armadillos, Haute Chile, Ruby & the Red Hots, Susie Hanson, the Impounders and Rob Shinn.

Juried art show is held under a cavernous tent at Fifth and Pennsylvania. The drum group Sol e Mar leads a samba line that snakes through the village streets. A record 103,500 attend the streetfair.

On a balmy weekday night the faded sign — note the difference — is spruced up by Bay Cal Painting using the same paint as in 1994 (Amershield bright red). HBA Executive Director Warren Simon and longtime boardmember Ann Garwood are interviewed live on the nightly news after taking a trip up in the cherry picker and applying their own paint to the beloved landmark.

The 20th anniversary of CityFest brings another record crowd to the streets of Hillcrest — 150,000.

This year’s “new idea” — a vintage car show — is discarded a few days before the event because of lack of interest. D.A. and the Hitmen perform at their first CityFest. Another record breaking crowd (170,000) turns out with lots of pets in costumes, but many complain of too many “swap meet” booths.

Come party at the 22nd anniversary of the relighting
of Hillcrest’s beloved pink neon sign!

Even with the best weather in decades, the 24th annual event’s crowd seemed smaller than previous years. Micro breweries debuted in the beer gardens.

This year’s “new idea” — a VIP tent, was a bust (the $25 tickets were lowered to $20, then again to $10). Entertainers on the main stage included Theo and Zydeco Patrol, San Diego Cheer Elite, Joyanna, Sue Palmer & her Motel Swing Orchestra (right), D.A. & the Hitmen, Trece De La Suerte, Angeles y Diablos and the one and only Candye Kane had fans dancing in the streets!

Next year will mark CityFest’s silver anniversary.

Contact the Hillcrest Business Association to become involved.

On the night of Sunday, August 9, 2009 fireworks were shot off over the Hillcrest sign as it was lit on the 25th anniversary of the orginal relighting of the neighborhood beacon. For the first time CityFest began at noon and continued into the night as neighbors and friends came to Hillcrest to party and celebrate the silver anniversary of the re-lighting of the iconic pink neon sign.
CityFest 2009 again closed University Avenue between Fourth and Fifth avenues for the first time since 1987 and set up a grand stage and sound system at the corner of Fifth & University as emcee and vocalist Laura Jane entertained the masses and introduced a line-up of new entertainment that dazzled the swaying crowds as they danced in the street. (The photo at the left was captured by Hillcrest resident Ann Garwood.)

This year’s CityFest entertainment was provided by The Tighten Ups, Circa Now, The Burning of Rome, Into The Presence, Republic of Letters,Pau Hana, Antioquia, Sue Palmer & Motel Swing, Ultra Violent Lights, F.U.Z.Z. and Wendy Bailey. This year’s event featured a massive open air beer garden, hundreds of arts and crafts and food vendors, street stilt walkers, water games, kids games, and the annual relighting of our neighborhood sign.

A free CityFest shuttle was be available on Sixth Avenue, south of Robinson (next to Rite Aid) from noon–8:30pm.

A new beacon for the community.

Overnight the sign that started CityFest came down…and a new Hillcrest sign with LED lights was installed. The first sign was donated to Hillcrest by women shopkeepers in 1940. After years of being unlit, in 1984 the community raised donations in to rebuild it, and the party created under the beacon was the genisis forCityFest, San Diego’s first neighborhood streetfair which has continued throughout the decades. The new sign will be relit at 8pm Sunday for the last hour ofCityFest.

History of the Hillcrest Sign