**43^nd^ Annual Cabrillo Festival Brings History to Life**

*Cultures come together and history comes alive* at the 43^nd^ Annual
Cabrillo Festival, one of the oldest cultural events in San Diego.
Cabrillo National Monument Superintendent Terry DiMattio, Cabrillo
Festival, Inc. President Mary Correia, and Naval Base Point Loma
Commanding Officer Capt. Mark Patton announced today that the festival
will take place from Friday, September 29 through Sunday, October 1.
This year's festival opens with a concert by Navy Band Southwest,
Kumeyaay Bird Songs, and a Commemorative Ceremony and Wreath Laying on
Friday, September 29, beginning at 5:30 PM at the Cabrillo Statue in
Cabrillo National Monument, San Diego's only unit of the National Park
System. This year, His Excellency Inocencio F. Arias, Consul General of
Spain in Los Angeles, will give the keynote address at the Commemorative
Ceremony. The festival continues with the 16^th^ century Spanish
Soldier's Living History Encampment on Saturday, September 30 from 11:30
AM until 4:30 PM, also at Cabrillo NM. The half hour National Park
Service film, *In Search of Cabrillo,* is presented daily in the
Cabrillo NM auditorium at 10:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM, and
the *Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo and the Age of Exploration* exhibit is open
daily from 9:00 AM until 5:15 PM at the visitor center. Celebrating 50
years of supporting Cabrillo NM interpretive, educational and scientific
programs, the Cabrillo National Monument Foundation sells literature and
other Cabrillo-related items in the bookstore, also located in the
visitor center. Visitor center and bookstore hours are 9:00 AM to 5:15
PM daily.

Throughout the month of September, 2006 Cabrillo Festival Art Contest
entries, including the contest winner by Breanna Rhode, will be on
display in the Cabrillo NM visitor center. The theme of the annual art
contest and the festival was *Where Cultures Come Together and History
Comes Alive*, and entries were accepted from 4^th^ grade students from
throughout San Diego County.

Beginning Saturday night, the focus of the festival shifts from Cabrillo
National Monument with the annual Cabrillo Festival Banquet and Dance,
sponsored by Cabrillo Civic Club #16. The Banquet will be held at Point
Loma's Portuguese SES Hall, 2818 Avenida de Portugal, at 6:30 PM.
Banquet and Dance tickets are \$40 per person and may be purchased by
calling (619) 426-0769 or (619) 221-8084. The main event of the festival
is the Open House on Sunday, October 1, from 11 AM -- 3:30 PM. This
year, for the first time, the Cabrillo Festival Open House will take
place at Ballast Point, believed to be the actual spot where Cabrillo
landed on September 28, 1542. Ballast Point is located on Naval Base
Point Loma, at the south end of Rosecrans Street. Admission to the Open
House is Free.

The Cabrillo Festival Open House features colorful displays of dancing,
storytelling and music from Mexico, Native America, Portugal and Spain.
This free event also features Mexican, Native American, Portuguese and
Spanish food from 11:00 AM until 3:30 PM; Kumeyaay basketweaving, flint
knapping, and acorn grinding demonstrations; a living history encampment
where 16^th^ century Spanish soldiers demonstrate the arms, armor,
implements and daily life; children's activities; and 2006 Miss Cabrillo
Festival, Melanie Medina. A highlight of the festival is the
re-enactment of Cabrillo's historic landing at Ballast Point at 1:00 PM.
Narrated by local television personality Jack White, re-enactors dressed
as Cabrillo and crew sail into San Diego Bay aboard *San Salvador* (the
*Californian* from the San Diego Maritime Museum), landing at Ballast
Point and "claiming the land" for the King of Spain. For the first time,
festival attendees will be able to see the landing on Ballast Point up
close. Confirmed for the Open House are *Danza Mexi'cayotl* (Aztec
Dance) at 11:00 AM; *La Fiesta Danzantes de San Diego* (Mexican Regional
Dance) at 11:45 AM; local actor and historian Abel Silvas
(Juaneño/Diegueño Mission Indian), presenting his engaging, often
tongue-in-cheek commentary as *Running Grunnion* at 12:30 PM; the
re-enactment of Cabrillo's landing at Ballast Point at 1:00 PM;
welcoming of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo (portrayed for the 11^th^ year by
Donald Valadao), his soldiers and priest, and 2006 Miss Cabrillo
Festival Melanie Medina, and introduction of special guests at 1:35 PM;
the *Portuguese American Dancers of San Diego* (Dances from the Azores,
Madeira and Portugal) at 1:45 PM; the *Spanish Ballet of San Diego* at
2:30 PM; and a mariachi at 3:10 PM. Throughout the day, there will be
cultural demonstrations by J.B. Kingery and Eva Salazar (San José de la
Zorra Reservation - basket weaving); Pat Sena (flintknapping); Leonard
Ingrande (knot-tying); and the 16^th^ Century Spanish Soldiers Living
History Encampment with National Park Service staff and
Volunteers-In-Parks from Cabrillo NM. Staff and volunteers from the
Barona Cultural Center and Museum will be on hand to tell about their
programs and the peoples who inhabited the San Diego area before
Cabrillo's arrival and their descendents.

Taken from the pages of history, the Cabrillo Festival brings to life
the story of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese conquistador and
explorer in Mexico and Central America, who spent his youth in Cuba.
Cabrillo sailed for the King of Spain in search of new lands and wealth
and helped establish trade routes between Asia and the Americas, playing
an important role in the beginnings of today's global economy. Traveling
along the West Coast of Baja California, Cabrillo and his crew
eventually reached what is now known as San Diego on September 28, 1542,
where they were met by the native Diegueño/Kumeyaay Indians, also known
as Iipay or Tipay. Unaware of the historical significance of his voyage,
Cabrillo secured his place in history and now thousands journey to
Cabrillo National Monument each year to commemorate the explorer who
touched so many of the cultures of present day San Diego.