SactoMoFo
8/22/12

An eclectic mix of people gathered at a venue to share the love of food and music. Attending the SactoMoFo for the first time was unexpected as I had not realize it’s popularity with the locals. Located at the corner of 6th and X street a large crowd gathered under the overpass taking up 2 city blocks. It was located across the street from Seavey Circle a large low income area.  I and two of my classmates went on the first really hot sunny day to check it out. The only hiccup was the drive in I the drive miss a turn had to go roundabout and up several streets before entering X street.  The first thing we took in was the smell of food- hotdogs to be exact. The next of course was all the people. Yes, it was crowd but it had a little of every kind of cultural background there. That’s the great thing about Downtown Sacramento everyone is welcome. Seeing it was right across the street for a low income area should be admired. I believe it helps to open that part of town to a positive event. Awareness is key in any city, it is so easy to stay in our own little worlds and not view our town from another prospective.

While there we spoke to a wonderful lady name Jonna L. She volunteers for the Food Bank and Family services. She was very help in explaining to us what it meant for her to be there. She boasted “SactoMoFo is a great venue to get the word out about local families in need of help during these hard economic times.” She then pointed to three large bins nearly 4 feet high fill with various food items.  She also explain the need for volunteers to help with the preparation of the items for distributions to families in need. We picked up flyers viewable at the www.sacramentofoodbank.org website.  The Main Campus located in Oak Park opens 10 am- 3 pm Monday thru Friday.  I also picked up a Infant and Toddler food drive application which is also located on same site. Standing there I listening to Mrs. Jonna L. expound about helping people I realize this event was not on it face just about food and music but also awareness; getting the word out about the various things going on in our community. Our community includes the eclectic mix of people black, white, brown, and yellow descent located and  it doesn’t matter what economic stratosphere we occupy.  We are all in this together. While we availed ourselves of what is going on (good food and music) we should our keep our eyes open to what’s really going on.

On that note we also met a fellow who simply called himself John another vender who was promoting the local music scene. A nice gentlemen he claimed it was also his first time at SactoMofo. His take on it was from the stand point of local business people coming together collectively to promote and entertain. He added  “ It allows all of us a place to let everyone know that we are here.”   In a place where big business can use millions of dollars to advertise there wares it refreshing to see that millions of dollar are not all that’s is needed to shine a spotlight on what we have to offer. 

We stood there for a little while taking in the sights and sounds. The smell of food filling the air easily made me forget we were standing under a freeway. The music was so good I did not notice the highway traffic up above. We checked out some of the fashionable flirty summer dresses nearby and walked about noticing all the vendors. It scene happens quiet a bit on Broadway. I have previously seen crowds gather every second Saturday for antique shopping at the same underpass a few blocks further down. We even met another man who was drawing cartoon facing of people for a small donations. He had worked for  Disney for over 20 years and was filling for his friend. He was happy to contribute his time to the event.  It nothing else meeting all these individuals hearing there stories; doing some people watching made me glad to be a Sacramento resident.

I guess it a great way Sacrmentans continues to demonstrated how to reused what would otherwise be wasted space. It is remarkable that an underpass normal fit for parking cars can gather such eclectic mix of people lively up a neighbor and spreading awareness about our community in one afternoon. Wow!

Elita R.