We’re Celebrating 20 Years as Leucadia 101 Mainstreet: Historic Preservation, Community Cultivation and Events
Posted on Feb. 3, 2023 / Subscribe 0
We’re celebrating our 20th anniversary as a non-profit this year! It all started back in 2003 to help promote and protect Leucadia’s unique culture and community and support Encinitas's construction of the Leucadia 101 Streetscape Project, currently in phase 2.
A non-profit community organization, we work in partnership with our neighborhood, the business owners, property owners, residents and City of Encinitas to preserve and revitalize the North Coast Highway 101 Corridor. We are a lead advocate for historic preservation and community cultivation through engagement of all our citizens and help keep the Art and Soul alive in Encinitas. We host a variety of events each year, creating a unique atmosphere for our residents to explore the community and stimulate our local economy.
Thanks to the incredible energy of the late Morgan Malory, who served as our founder and original president, we established two very successful community events, Leucadia Farmers Market and Leucadia Art Walk, a juried art show.
Yes, we are the founders of the Leucadia Farmers Market! It has been a success for us and benefits the Paul Ecke School community. How? We give 50% of our Leucadia 101 Mainstreet monthly profits year round to the Paul Ecke PTA, allowing them to use funds towards staffing or supplies.
We encourage the community to walk, skate and bike to our Leucadia Farmers Market and reward bikers with Bicycle Bucks that can be redeemed with our farmers market vendors. With the new El Portal Undercrossing, residents can easily and safely cross Highway 101 to get back and forth to Paul Ecke.
We'd like to share a little history about the Leucadia Art Walk that was included in the article, An artsy Sunday afoot in Leucadia, written by Adam Kaye in the August 27, 2007 issue of the San Diego Union Tribune:
In 1987, the owners of some of Leucadia's many art galleries began hosting yearly art walks, said Morgan Mallory, owner of the Corner Frame Shop. The merchants produced about five art walks, but eventually the stores of some participants closed or their owners moved away.
In 2005, a group working to revitalize and promote Leucadia's business strip began to once again organize the art walks. Mallory, the association's former president, said the revived art walks hold true to the original ones because all creations are displayed and sold by the artists themselves. "Every piece of art is going to be presented by the artist who crafted it," Mallory said. "We do not want window salesmen, hawkers, Chinese imports or cheap T-shirts. We want unique, one-of-a-kind stuff."
Our other annual events include our Summer Fun on the 101, a free mini music festival held at Leucadia Roadside Park, founded by our current Board Member Michael Schmitt in 2009; Battle of the Bands, a youth competition where the winning band gets to play at the Summer Fun on the 101, also founded by Michael Schmitt; and the annual Taste of Leucadia featuring a variety of Leucadia’s best restaurants.
We give back to the young musicians in our community by providing a college scholarship to two seniors at San Dieguito Academy pursuing musical studies. The scholarship is funded by proceeds from the Summer Fun on the 101.
We are guided by an 11 member board of directors composed of local business owners, property owners and residents actively involved in our community. These volunteer board members are elected by the current Leucadia 101 Mainstreet Board of Directors. Our executive director is Brittany Corrales, a third generation Leucadian who has been involved with Leucadia 101 as a volunteer since 2012.
The majority of our events are free to the public, with the exception of Taste of Leucadia. Our events are funded through grants, donations, membership dues and local event sponsors. We rely heavily on volunteers to staff our events and are grateful for those who donate both their money and their time.
We hope you gained an understanding of the background and purpose of Leucadia 101 Mainstreet and encourage you to attend or sponsor one of our events!
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