Picnic in the Park at Lower Presidio Historic Park

Save the Date! Don't miss this free family-friendly event!

Old Monterey Foundation will hold the “Picnic in the Park” at Lower Presidio Historic Park on Saturday, June 22, 2019. Bring your friends and family to this fun event and enjoy great food, live entertainment, historic reenactments, walking tours, costume contests, scavenger hunt, prizes and much more.

Enjoy spectacular views of the beautiful Monterey Bay, Old Fisherman’s Wharf and the Monterey Harbor at this park that is hidden in plain view.  See the “before”, which is now, and what we envision the “after” to be! Old Monterey Foundation has raised funds to develop trails and interpretive sign for all of the monuments to enhance and restore this park which is considered “The Most Historically Significant Site on the West Coast”.

At a Glance:

What:  

“Picnic in the Park” at Lower Presidio Historic Park hosted by Old Monterey Foundation will feature:

•           Delicious food for your picnic -- from hamburgers and hot dogs to sweet treats including wine and beer.

•           Live Musical Entertainment with several performances by The Del Montes: Jangle, Twang Rock ‘n Roll

•           A local youth dance troupe performance

•           Argentinian Privateer Hippolyte Bouchard (regarded by his victims as a pirate) and his loyal crew will reenact the capture of the Presidio of Monterey (El Castillo) in 1818.  

•           Kids and adults are welcome to dress as pirates and be part of the reenactment

•           Costume contests with prizes for best dressed pirate-both kids and adult- there will be lots of pirate booty!

•           Photo Ops with pirates and historic reenactors

•           Scavenger Hunt with Prizes

           Be sure to bring your lawn chairs and blankets to enjoy the day!

•           Visit the Presidio of Monterey Museum, also located on the site and operated by the City of Monterey, an excellent place to view exhibits, artifacts, and videos that lead visitors through Monterey's various stages of military development from the indigenous period which highlights the area's native populations; through the Spanish and Mexican periods; and up to present day.

•           Free Lower Presidio Historic Park Walking Tours with historian Tim Thomas at 12:30 pm, 1:30 pm and 2:30 pm. Tim will share why Lower Presidio Historic Park is considered by many professional historians as "The Most Historically Significant Site on the West Coast". 

•           Walk the trails and see the interpretive historic signs and trails

•           Visit the restored Saint Serra statue

•           Learn more about Old Monterey’s Foundation’s (a 501(c)3 non-profit) Lower Presidio Historic Park Project and its plans and architectural renderings for Phase 2. Find out how to get involved and become a Friend of the Lower Presidio.  

•           Ample on-site parking

When:

Saturday, June 22, 2019 from 11:00 am – 3:00 pm  

Where:

Lower Presidio Historic Park. From Monterey, take Pacific Street past the First Theater to the end of Pacific where it forks, take the left fork. turn left at the stop sign onto Artillery Road. From Pacific Grove, take Lighthouse Avenue in New Monterey, bear right to go onto Pacific Street and then go to Artillery Road, turn right.

Lower Presidio Historic Park also features the Presidio of Monterey Museum located at Corporal Ewing Road, Bldg. 113 (Map/More Directions: http://www.monterey.org/museums/Home/Map-and-Directions?2

Sponsors: Thank you to our valued media sponsors:   KSBW 8 NBC, Central Coast ABC and Estrella TV Costa Central. Also, a big thank you to the City of Monterey, Monterey County Vintners & Growers Association and Peter B’s Brewpub.

Information:

Phone: (831) 346-3040 or email [email protected]. Check out the full schedule at www.oldmontereyfoundation.org.

About The Del Montes

Feel good, dance shakin’ tunes, including your favorite oldies music. Conceived of a longing to play the danceable American and British Invasion hits and B Sides, The Del Montes play R&R, Tex Mex, Country and Western and UK R&B. The Del Montes are a veteran bunch of honkytonking musicians with long and varied backgrounds recording and performing professionally.

About Old Monterey Foundation

 

The Old Monterey Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was formed on February 14, 2011, with the specific mission and purpose of promoting, supporting and enhancing the artistic, cultural and historic environment of historic Downtown Monterey, California.  The group is well known for their work with the Art-in-the-Adobes event that was held from 2011-2013 as well as other fundraisers, lectures and events.  Its private/public partnership with the City of Monterey heralds a new way of doing public business in a State strapped to find funds for park operations and expansions. Old Monterey Foundation’s current goals are the continued development of

the Lower Presidio Historic Park as well as providing more public art in Downtown Monterey.

About Lower Presidio Historic Park

The Lower Presidio Historic Park, described as “The Most Historically Significant Site on the West Coast” and “One of the Most Beautiful Places in Monterey”, is becoming a true historic public park to be enjoyed by locals and visitors. Old Monterey Foundation, in cooperation with the City of Monterey, has raised initial funds to complete Phase One of the project to enhance and restore this historic 25.3-acre site. In 2017, it installed nine new interpretive signs, a white wooden perimeter fence, and two new ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessible pathways of the Harbor Trail which extends to the Serra Monument and the Vista Trail that goes up the hill to the Sloat Monument.  

 

Old Monterey Foundation is continuing to seek public donations to help complete Phase One of the project, which is improving amenities around the Park with picnic tables, benches, directional signs, and a sidewalk connecting the two trails.  Plans for other improvements, including rebuilding the stables and incorporation of the adjacent Viscaino Park are in the works.

 

Old Monterey Foundation raised funds for new picnic tables and benches, recently installed at the park. There are now a total of eight convenient picnic tables and five benches on site at this beautiful park which is now a perfect picnic destination!

 

Many local organizations have played a role in the development of this project including Old Monterey Foundation, the Neighborhood Improvement Program, City of Monterey, Rotary Club of Monterey, Community Foundation for Monterey County, Monterey Peninsula Foundation, Presidio of Monterey and Granite Construction. The project is funded by the City of Monterey’s Neighborhood Improvement Program.

 

The Lower Presidio Historic Park is one of the least-visited historic parks in the area due to some confusion about whether the public is allowed in the area.   Situated in a “hidden in plain sight” location, the Park can be found above Pacific Street at the Lighthouse Curve in Downtown Monterey. The park features spectacular views of the Monterey Bay and Harbor and will become a jewel of the City of Monterey’s park system.      

 

Old Monterey Foundation invites everyone to become members of "Friends of the Lower Presidio" at www.oldmontereyfoundation.org and make tax-deductible donations to more quickly restore the park. 

 

The City of Monterey Outreach Office produced an informative short video about the Lower Presidio Historic Park and its significance to California and American history:  https://youtu.be/Lg7X0spnC4k. 

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