Chicago, Minneappolis, New York City and San Juan Bautista - one of these cities is not like the others.
But each of them, along with four more, could be hosting an international arts and music festival as it tours the United States. The details are still being worked out, but Las Vegas-based organizer Frank Beaty said the festival will definitely make its final stop in the Mission City.
The new tour was inspired by the Yulin International Folk Music Festival in China, he said. In August, the Yulin festival drew more than 40,000 paying visitors, and Beaty hopes to bring another big crowd - around 10,000 people per day - to San Juan Bautista over Memorial Day weekend.
San Juan will be the festival's only West Coast stop, Beaty said, and he expects it to be more than just a local event.
"We're not really looking to (the residents of) San Juan Bautista to support the event," he said. "The market is primarily the Bay Area."
If the festival can attract the numbers Beaty is talking about, it will be the biggest Mission City event in four or five years, said City Manager Jan McClintock.
"We're looking forward to more high quality, large events in San Juan Bautista," McClintock said. "That helps out all of San Benito County."
Like the Yulin festival, the local event - also supported by the Badaling Great Wall Foundation and the Great Wall Society - will feature musicians and visual artists from China, Russia and the United States, Beaty said.
"As wildly disparate as it was ... it was really amazing how it fit together and flowed," he said. "Our major theme is to promote friendship and awareness of the 'big three' cultures."
Beaty said American "folk funk" artist Bobby Rush has already signed up to perform. Beaty's company Beaty Four Entertainment brought Rush to the Yulin festival, where he was a big hit despite the language barrier.
"He had 40,000 people on their feet yelling, 'Hey, hey, Bobby Rush,' even if many of them didn't even know what they were saying," Beaty said.
The new festival will tour China, Russia and the United States in advance of the Summer Olympics in Beijing, he added. When Beaty started planning the tour, he had already signed a contract to produce a Memorial Day music festival in San Juan Bautista, so it seemed like a good idea to bring the two events together, he said.
Still, McClintock said she and Beaty had to work hard to convince Chinese representatives that San Juan Bautista was the right spot. A big factor, McClintock said, was city's rich immigrant history.
"For a small town, we were a big melting pot," McClintock said.
Anthony Ha Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or aha@freelancenews.com.
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