Page:The Tourist's California by Wood, Ruth Kedzie.djvu/97

 THEATRES, FESTIVALS, SPORTS 73 Monterey for which he had been searching. It was Father Crespi, his chaplain, who realised its im- portance, and who, sitting his mule on the rise in sight of the new-found harbour, swore, raising the cross at his girdle, " By this sign we conquer, and claim that future empire which this day fore- shadows." The San Francisco fete is called the Mardi Gras of the Pacific. Up and down Market Street pass the floats and costumed processionists in fantastic, gorgeous array. And when the day fades, the lights, the confetti, the merry fooling of the crowds recall New Orleans at its maddest, or Nice about the Casino Square on the Tuesday before the first day of Lent. One could wish only, that the personage whose memory San Francisco de- lights thus to honour were more worthy of it all. Why not have called it Crespi Day, or named for Figueroa, founder of the city, a festival like this? Ceres is the patroness of many radiant fiestas -the February Orange Show of San Bernar- dino ; the Orange and Rose Festival of Redlands ; the Prune Festivals of Santa Clara County, cele- brated about the first of April; the May Day of Los Gatos and San Jose; the Carnival of Los Angeles, with its concerts, games, and grotesque parades which render praise for the gifts of spring; the Sweet Pea Fairs of San Luis Obispo