Discovering Life’s Possibilities

By Lucy Wheeler

San Marcos CA—Discovering Life’s Possibilities has long been a San Marcos anthem and their fall festival once again promoted this theme. This repeated emphasis never diminished the festival’s attraction for the children’s amusement centers of bungie jumping Swashbuckler’s slides, tree climbing or face painting. Nor did it overlook the fabulous food vendor or the hourly change of local entertainer. Vendor discovery booths were nestled and intertwined between the surface activities through the layout of the festival.

What better way could an audience discover the opportunities available to them than through displays of its educational systems? San Marcos has always been proud of being the educational hub of the North County San Diego. Home of CSUSM (California State University San Marcos) and Palomar Community College (one of the largest community colleges in the state) is just the beginning of this hub. California College has a satellite branch in San Marcos as does Taylion’s on-line office on Rancho Santa Fe Rd.

Palomar Community College offers their ‘Gear-Up’ program to prospective college students in its elementary and high schools as well as its ‘Funding Aide’ program available to students of all ages in their college. And this merely touches the surface of all the educational opportunities available throughout this city’s environment.
A second theme of discovery involved booths directing attention to the water management of the city’s growth and development. With recent drought conditions, this city, as well as many of its sister cities in California, is challenged with this on-going issue and requires awareness and cooperation of both the residents as well as the providers.

There were booths relating to landscaping ideas regarding plants* and/or grass requiring less water and the best planning methods toward obtaining these objectives. The Vallecitos Water District offered ‘Water Academy’ bus tours to assist in educating the public in these serious issues and there were vendors with different types of bottled water especially in the realm of drinking water.
These were just two of the many ‘discover life’s possibilities’ anthem which was echoed throughout the effective and entertaining Fall Festival in San Marcos, last weekend to a near record crowd and a near perfect fall day.