When Mission Bay had a floating stage

by Debbie L. Sklar • Times of San Diego

*1949 Fiesta Bahia Floating Stage. (Photo and caption info courtesy of the city of San Diego Digital Archives)*

Today, Mission Bay is known for beaches, boats, hotels and recreation.

In 1949, however, the area was still being developed into the recreational destination San Diegans know today.

To celebrate the official opening of Mission Bay Park, the city staged a three-day festival — and one of its most unusual attractions was a floating barge that served as a stage for musicians and entertainers.

Photo of floating stage used during Fiesta Bahia (Festival of the Bay) and cars parked on Bahia Point, formerly called Gleason Point. The Sept. 3-5, 1949, celebration officially opened Mission Bay Park. The 3-day event included the use of floating stages, a Central Labor Council water parade, showing the movie ‘Man’s Conquest of the Air’ each night, vaudeville shows, and aquatic exhibitions by the San Diego Swimming Association including water ballet, high- and comedy-divers, and water ski, boat and paddleboard races. (Photo and caption info courtesy of the city of San Diego Digital Archives)

Fiesta Bahia, or Festival of the Bay, was held Sept. 3-5, 1949. The city of San Diego’s Digital Archives preserves a photograph of the floating stage taken Sept. 4.

The festival was built around the water.

*In 1949, the “Fiesta Bahia” demonstrated some of the possible uses of Mission Bay. (Photo and captin info courtesy of the San Diego History Center via the city of San Diego Digital Archives)*

According to the City Archives, the celebration included entertainment on floating stages, a Central Labor Council water parade, nightly showings of the film Man’s Conquest of the Air, vaudeville performances and aquatic exhibitions by the San Diego Swimming Association.

The aquatic program included water ballet, high diving, comedy diving, water skiing, boat races and paddleboard races.

The floating stage wasn’t just a local curiosity. Contemporary entertainment coverage shows how elaborate the plans were.

An article in the Aug. 6, 1949, issue of Billboard, reporting from Mission Beach on July 30, announced that Buster Crabbe’s Aqua Parade had been booked for Fiesta Bahia. Crabbe was scheduled to appear with Olympic diving champion Vicki Draves, comic diver Stubby Krueger and a 16-girl water ballet. The show was to be presented from a floating stage anchored off Tierra del Fuego Island in the bay.

Other events planned for the festival included inboard and outboard motorboat races, sailing races, water-skiing exhibitions, swimming meets and paddleboard races. The three-day celebration was to conclude with a parade of floats sponsored by local labor groups.

The City Archives also preserves an aerial photograph taken Sept. 4, 1949, showing a floating stage and cars parked at Bahia Point, which was formerly known as Gleason Point.

The festival wasn’t simply entertainment. It demonstrated how San Diego envisioned Mission Bay as a major recreational destination — one where the water itself could become part of the attraction.

*Fiesta Baja – Mission Bay – 1949. (Photo and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)*

The celebration was temporary, but it continued.

Today, the floating stage is gone, but photographs preserved by the city of San Diego offer a glimpse of the September 1949 spectacle, when crowds gathered along the developing shoreline to watch musicians, entertainers and aquatic performers turn the bay into a stage.

For three days, Mission Bay itself was part of the show.

Read more history stories here, and do you have a story to tell? Send an email to DebbieSklar@cox.net.

Sources:

City of San Diego Digital Archives, “1949 Fiesta Bahia Floating Stage.”
City of San Diego Digital Archives, “Aerial View of Bahia Point During 1949 Fiesta Bahia.”
San Diego History Center, Mission Bay, January 2002.
Billboard, Aug. 6, 1949.