By Janice Carter

The Pageant of the Masters was in the midst of auditions in May for the first performance of the summer . Several of our artists friends , Andrew Wing , Dion Wright , Leonard Kaplan , and my husband Robert Tanner McCarron , were deciding if they wanted to enter a juried showing of their paintings and then have to pay for a booth on cold concrete to display their art . They either had their own galleries in Laguna already or sold

out of their homes . So , sitting around a meeting in our home , they decided to invite other local artists to start their own art show that would not be juried , be in a warmer environment and create a whole new ambiance .

Jim Smith , whose mother Peg Smith worked for the South Coast News , local potters Mark , Beverly and Nikki Blumenfeld , painter John Armstrong , potter John Stadelmeir and painters Robert Tanner McCarron and Sculptor Dion Wright put the word out to the community . The first formal meeting was next door to the Cottage Restaurant in an open field on the Coast Highway , across from the Victor Hugo . Discussions of freedom of choice were held against the stringent rules of the “ Concrete Slab ” show adjoined to the Pageant of the Masters .

New , young and innovative artisans wanted to break away from the “ establishment ” of the earlier years and create a brand new venue . The idea of having sawdust brought over from the nearby lumber yard at the end of Forest Avenue to cover the dirt field and provide a soft ground to walk on appealed to all present , and the name “ Sawdust Festival ” was voted on and approved .

Our first event was held in the vacant lot next to the Cottage

Restaurant in the summer of 1969 . The following year , we acquired the property on Laguna Canyon Road across from the Pageant of the Masters . We voted to each rent a 20 by 20-foot space for our booth and only use Redwood lath for construction . It was up to each of us to develop our own unique designs and fabrication to display our art . May was the time for creativity and diversity . It was so much fun witnessing the constructions , and swarms of our friends showed up to support the efforts . Macrame pot hangers were made to hang live plants to bring in greenery and living art . We made Redwood lath picture frames . The organic versus old-world approach to art was starting to form our space . The atmosphere was one of a gala event with artists playing their guitars and flutes , potluck dinners with the “ hippie vibe ” definitely present . The long-haired , bearded men wore beaded necklaces with beads that were sold at the Festival . The women wore long homemade skirts , dresses and sandals , all sold at the Festival . The long-haired women wore flowers in their hair . Nursing mothers were seen in public . Times were changing with songs from Bob Dylan , the Carpenters and the Beach Boys . As the day ’ s light

faded , candles were lit , and incense was burned until we were informed that having our Sawdust Festival go up in smoke was not a good idea .

If you were there and remember those glorious days , please email me at 711234jcc40 @ gmail . com . My husband died in 2007 , and many of our friends are no longer with us . But the memories of the Icarus Shop , Mystic Arts , Yoga and Meditation in the Canyon , and the Old Lifeguard Stand on Main Beach and Trotters Bakery still remain in our hearts .

Janice McCarron Carter married Robert Tanner McCarron in Laguna Beach in 1966 by Zen Roshi Joshu Sasaki at the Chapel in front of the Episcopal Church . Janice worked in the First Health Food Store across from Trotter ’ s Bakery on Forest Ave and worked with the La Maze Coach and Midwife , assisting home births from 1969 to 1972 . Janice was instrumental in petitioning for husbands to be present in the delivery room as coaches to delivering mothers at South Coast Hospital in 1969 . She is the proud mother of two daughters born in Laguna Beach . Janice retired to Sedona , Ariz . in 2000 and built her home where she lives with her daughter Tempera , chickens , dog and cat .

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