Curtain call on festivals

As the summer season comes to a close, so will Laguna’s three world-famous art festivals.

For those who haven’t yet made their way into the “canyon of festivities” “” all within walking distance of each other on Laguna Canyon Road “” or for those who want to go back for more, the Sawdust, Festival of Arts and Art-A-Fair will host one last weekend of fun-filled activities before they close their curtains until 2010.

Sawdust Festival ends Sunday

At the Sawdust Festival, Director Cynthia Fung said the 2009 season was successful, with many highlights, and will keep the momentum going through Sunday with more exciting workshops and entertainment.

Today, learn the craft of knotting a bead bracelet and make your own from 7 to 9 p.m. with jeweler Catherine Reade and rock out with the Juke Box Scandal, who will give a performance from 5:30 to 9:45 p.m. on the Main Deck.

For those who are in the giving mood, a final blood drive will be from noon to 6 p.m. outside the festival grounds, and will benefit the Saddleback Memorial Medical Center.

Saturday, learn “The Language of Landscape Painting” from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. with painter, Amy Jackson, and create your own acrylic landscape painting under her guidance.

Enjoy a jazz, blues and a cappella performance by singer-songwriter Sasha Evans from noon to 4:30 p.m., and then get down with one of Laguna’s favorite rock groups, the Missiles of October, who will play until 9:45 p.m. on the Main Deck.

Sunday will offer a final chance to try your hand at the potter’s wheel and create your own clay pot between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. at the Ceramic Center. Sawdust staff will assist with creations, and will even ship them to you for a small fee.

Energetic Reggae band World Anthem will groove from 5:30 p.m. to the final hour of the Sawdust Festival. For more information, visit sawdustartfestival.org.

Festival of Arts gala, specials

The Festival of Arts will host a Mixed Media Art Workshop from noon to 5 p.m. today, and will grace audiences will musical entertainment by the Tony Guerrero Quartet from 6 to 8 p.m.

On Saturday, the festival will close to the public at 2 p.m. for the annual Gala Benefit, hosted this year by Angela Bassett and featuring a bevy of celebrities walking a red carpet. Until that time, normal daily workshops will resume, including a free printmaking workshop, which will run through Sunday.

Sunday will also feature a special new scavenger hunt event from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., in which you’ll be challenged to find 40 parodies throughout the grounds within the booths of the exhibitors.

The first two people who find all 40 parodies will receive two tickets each to the 2010 Pageant of the Masters, “Eat, Drink and be Merry,” but all participants will receive a free gift.

Celebrate a hard day’s night with Jason Feddy and Friends from 6 to 8 p.m., as they play Beatles classics for the last time.

Sunday will also be the last chance to enter to win a Tom Swimm original oil painting; the drawing will close at 7:30 p.m.

Don’t miss Monday’s 90-minute art workshop, Postcards from Laguna, taught from 10 to 11:30 a.m. by exhibiting artists Stephanie Cunningham, Betty Haight and Kathy Jones. This is your final chance make a small piece of art to take home as a memento of Laguna Beach.

For more information, visit www.foapom.com.

Art-A-Fair closing celebration

Art-A-Fair will say farewell to its 43rd season with a closing night celebration from 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday.

This will be the final opportunity to bid on silent auction items that have been on display all season. Among the items are one- and two-night stays at various Orange County Marriott properties, a gift certificate to the Balboa Bay Club and Kings Seafood Company, dinner for two at the Surf and Sands’ Splashes, jewelry and fragrance gift boxes.

Swingsensations will rock around the clock from 1 to 4 p.m. with Dixieland tunes.

The fair will entertain with the popular classic Motown band, Redd Street from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday, the festival’s last day of the season.

For more information, visit art-a-fair.com.