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FACT SHEET
OVERVIEW: One of Southern Californias most popular community events, the Abbot Kinney Festival celebrates the vibrant and eclectic creativity of Venice, California; focuses on giving back to the community; and pays homage to Mr. Abbot Kinney who founded the world-famous beach resort in 1905. DATE: presented annually since 1984 on the last Sunday of September, 10 AM to 6 PM ADMISSION: Free LOCATION: Venice, California along the famed shopping district of Abbot Kinney Blvd., which features an eclectic mix of over 110 trendy boutiques, restaurants, art galleries, salons, and nightclubs, stretching one mile from Venice Blvd. to Main St. DEMOGRAPHICS: 150,000+ attendees are best described as trendy adults who are environmentally savvy, focused on health, committed to family and giving back to the community, pet owners, bicyclists and runners, unpretentiously hip, music fans, and museum goers. Local residents are ethnically diverse, progressive, upper-middle class mobile urbanites in a fashionable neighborhood on the urban fringe. They are young singles, couples and families with sophisticated tastes and known for being early adopters of the latest trends in art, music, film, fashion, nightclubs, microbrews, and technology. EXHIBITORS & VENDORS: Up to 400 booth exhibitors and 25 gourmet food trucks NONPROFIT ORGANIZER: The Abbot Kinney Festival Association (AKFA), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, reinvests festival proceeds into the community of Venice from its sales of sponsorships, exhibitor booths, event-run concessions, commemorative merchandise, and advertising. This also means that festival sponsorship may be tax deductible in part or in full, or that a portion of sponsorship may be directed to an eligible nonprofit for youth and families through the AKFA Community Grants Program. PARKING & TRANSPORTATION: As a large-scale festival in an urban neighborhood with minimally available parking, the Abbot Kinney Festival strives to minimize its impact on the environment. Attendees are encouraged to bike, walk, use public transportation, carpool, or drive a hybrid or biodiesel vehicle. Look for parking spaces along Venice Blvd. west of Lincoln Blvd. and along Main St. Public parking lots are on Venice Beach. Private parking lots are on Windward and on Main St. between Brooks Ave. and Westminster Ave. Additional parking lots are along Electric Ave., Washington Blvd. near Venice Pier, and in Marina del Rey. Free bike valet stations are on Broadway Ct. and Milwood Ave. at Electric Ave.
BIOGRAPHY -
New Jersey-born Abbot Kinney (1850-1920) made his fortune as a cigarette manufacturer, traveled the world, then settled in the San Gabriel Valley in 1880, building a ranch home he called Kinneloa near present-day Sierra Madre. He also entered the real estate business in Santa Monica and with his partner, Francis G. Ryan, founded the community of Ocean Park. A man of wide-ranging interests, a noted linguist, botanist and member of scientific societies, Kinney wrote books and treatises on subjects as diverse as metaphysics, child-rearing, free trade and the propagation of eucalyptus trees. As chairman of the State Forestry Bureau and road-master in the Santa Monica area, he promoted the planting of thousands of eucalyptus seedlings throughout the region. He also accompanied author Helen Hunt Jackson on research trips among the Mission Indians. These trips resulted in Ramona, an influential novel on the image of southern California and its attraction to tourists. Kinney is best known as founder of Venice of America, a fanciful beach community south of Ocean Park, known simply as Venice. Built on reclaimed marshland, Venice of America was a planned community constructed in the style of the Venetian Renaissance. It included homes, hotels, businesses, a 1,700-foot pier, an amusement park, a 3,600-seat auditorium, a 2-1/2 mile miniature railway line that looped the entire development (5 cents a ride), and 16 miles of canals and lagoons, complete with gondolas and gondoliers imported from Venice, Italy, the inspiration for Kinneys dream community. "Thousands of people boarded the green interurban cars in order to see just what Kinney was building," writes Donald Duke in the Fall 1999 issue of The Branding Iron, a publication of the Los Angeles Westerners Corral. "After seeing the construction, they believed that Kinney was not so nuts after all! During November 1904, over $386,000 worth of lots were sold, proving that the people liked what they saw. Kinney built an electric power plant and installed an electrical system to each lot. The canals were lighted; in fact, he put in lights all over the place. He built a novel fire station and installed fireplugs all over Venice; these fireplugs were connected at high pressure to a salt water pipeline. All types of novel features were found in Venice that could not be found in any other community."