Last year, Southwestern College professor Max Branscomb saved Bonitafest from the brink of extinction.
But Branscomb couldn’t bring Bonitafest to Bonita Road where it has traditionally been held.
Instead, Bonitafest will be held over multiple days with the popular street fair located at Bonita Vista High School.
“People are funny, they say ‘Bonita Vista High School is in Chula Vista,’” he said. “And I say, ‘Yea, Bonita Vista Road is in Chula Vista too’. Most of Bonita is in Chula Vista.”
He said the $38,000 cost of closing Bonita Road made having the event on Bonita’s main street unreasonable. Last year Branscomb and his committee had a $10,000 budget.
He said it dawned on him earlier this year that Bonita Road wasn’t going to be feasible.
He also said he is a little “bummed out” to not host Bonitafest on Bonita Road but that he understands the circumstance.
“We had to face reality; the reality was we had to change the way we were doing things or it would not survive.”
The Twilight Trails parade will circle the Chula Vista Municipal Golf Course on Sept. 18 at 6 p.m. The street fair is Sept 19 at Bonita Vista High School.
Bonitafest Melodrama happens on Sept. 23 and 24 at Sweetwater Community Church, 5305 Sweetwater Road.
Branscomb is unsure if Bonitafest will ever return to Bonita Road.
“It just isn’t a sustainable model anymore,” he said. “I think we’re on our way to a sustainable model where it could survive for another couple decades.”
That model includes eliminating the cost of law enforcement, which Branscomb said is the biggest cost, and eliminating the cost of closing the street by holding a self-contained event at the high school.
