Pageant of the Masters Bizarre Bazaar goes public

Publish date: 2024-06-26

If you’re a huge Pageant of the Masters fan, or even if you’re not, there might be some fun shopping Saturday, Nov. 27, you hadn’t considered.

The Pageant of the Masters for the first time ever will put items from its warehouse up for sale to the public. Think stage props, artwork, unique costumes, huge outdoor banners, art history books and other unique finds.

In the past, these relics from the living art show were only available to pageant volunteers during the January casting calls, but this year the public has access to thousands of pieces in what’s being dubbed the Bizarre Bazaar.

“I hope people will find something to cherish and they’ll remember the pageant and know they’ll have something historical for the future,” said Diane Challis Davy, the pageant’s director.

With storage at a premium and looking for a new way to raise funds, pageant officials decided to open opportunities to purchase the artifacts to a broader audience.

The Saturday event is organized by the Da Vinci Guild, a booster group formed in 2021 to raise money for the pageant and the accompanying Festival of Arts. Items will range in price from $1 to $1,500. Money raised will go back into the organization’s general budget to benefit next year’s “Wonderful World” pageant production that’s planned to open in July.

The guild was formed after the 2020 summer pageant and art show were canceled by the coronavirus, a costly hit to the Laguna Beach Festival of Arts nonprofit. Having already spent a large part of its budget on the upcoming show, the group had to ask pre-paid 2020 ticket holders to take credit toward the 2021 show or consider donating the value of their tickets to the arts organization as it tried to ride out the pandemic. Those wanting refunds experienced delays.

The Pageant of the Masters has been performed in Laguna Beach since the 1930s. More than 200 volunteers create the artwork – known as living pictures – by freezing in a pose for 90 seconds. The show has gone dark twice, once during World War II and once during the pandemic.

As she toured the pageant’s backstage on Monday, Nov. 22, picking through boxes and costumes, Challis Davy pointed out ice skater and Dickens caroler costumes from “Season’s,” the pageant’s 2003 show and a velvet dress and brocade coat used in “All the World is a Stage” in 2008.

There is a wooden globe that converts to a chessboard from “The Grand Tour” show put on in 2017. And there are faux life preservers used on the set of the Titanic that came from the Pageant of the Monsters haunted house in 2013.

Also for sale are a series of behind-the-scene pageant photos that for decades hung in rooms at Hotel Laguna. When the turnover in hotel ownership occurred, the pageant got the photos back, Challis Davy said, adding that she is still pricing many of the artifacts and finding new ones.

There are also huge outdoor banners used to advertise shows, including “The Grand Tour” in 2017 and “Eat, Drink and be Merry” in 2010.

“These could be displayed outside, they’re very durable,” Challis Davy said.

There are also the big wooden, painted scenes used as the backgrounds for the living pictures. Challis Davy suggested these could be used as garden decor.

In addition to the surplus items being sold, shoppers can also purchase and name a Pageant Legacy Society seat. Those range from $500 to $2,000.

If you go:

Where: Festival of the Arts grounds, 650 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach

When: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 27

Payment: Only credit and debit cards

This post first appeared on ocregister.com

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