Food a big draw at 626 Night Market, the Asian-inspired festival at Santa Anita Park. It is in its fourth season of food, entertainment, art and shopping.
626 Night Market spawns copycats. The concept of a Taiwanese style foodie bazaar that has been held at Santa Anita Park, has spread to Orange County, Koreatown in Los Angeles, Monterey Park, and Studio City.
Organizers of the 626 Night Market at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, estimate as many as 50,000 people attended the recent 3 night run of the event. The event featured Asian street food booths and other vendors and entertainment.
Organizers of the 626 Night Market, held at Santa Anita Park, hope that a 6-foot-tall plexi glass cup of boba milk tea, holding about 125 4-inch tapioca balls, immersed in some 320 gallons of black tea and milk, will earn them a spot in the Guinness World Records.
Arcadia City Council approves $30,000 for officials' trip to China and Taiwan. The purpose is to foster a better understanding of Asian culture in order to better serve Arcadia, which is heavily populated by residents from China and Taiwan. Establishing sister city relationships with Chinese and Taiwanese municipalities is another goal of the trip. See VF Sister City.
Arcadia City Council last week approved expanding the kinds of outdoor special events allowed at Santa Anita Park race track, and in the adjacent parking lot areas, including concerts, carnivals, and farmers markets. The change will allow the track to host the California Philharmonic summer concerts and possibly Cavalia, a Cirque du Soleil show. Councilman Roger Chandler said the amendments made to the city's municipal code allow a very large and underused piece of land, specifically the south parking lot, to be used and to generate additional income for the track.
Paddock guard John Shear, a hero who was injured saving a girl from a runaway horse, has returned to work at Santa Anita Park. He turns 91 years old next month. He is a 5 foot tall, 110 pound Sierra Madre resident and sustained a fractured pelvis, internal bleeding and other injuries when he had a head-on collision with horse "Sea and Sage" on March 12, 2011.
Horses at Santa Anita Park suffered fatal racing injuries at more than twice the rate of horses competing at California's other 3 major thoroughbred tracks over the last fiscal year, according to statistics. The fatality rate spiked at Santa Anita Park after the switch from a synthetic running surface back to a dirt track in 2010. There were 12 fatalities, or 3.7 per 1,000 starts, at Santa Anita Park in the last fiscal year.
National Night Out and Arcadia's 114th birthday will be celebrated with a concert in the park by the Swing Cats Big Band, and birthday cake on August 3, on the Arcadia City Hall lawn.
At least 300 tons of sand were added to the new all-dirt main track at Santa Anita Park, to correct the imbalance of sand to clay after 14.5 inches of rain fell over a 10-day period.
Major traffic jams during Santa Anita Park Race Track's record breaking opening day. All parking lots were full by 12:20 PM on December 26, 2017. See also Mountain Views News, p. B1, December 30, 2017 opening day recap crowd of 40,000.
Next stop for race horse called California Chrome: Kentucky. Colt crushes at Santa Anita Derby to emerge as Churchill Downs favorite. Jockey Victor Espinoza in photo.