By Town Crier Staff Report

The Bay Area festival season kicks off this weekend in downtown Mountain View when the sixth annual A La Carte & Art Festival takes over Castro Street.

Presented by the Mountain View Central Business Association, the open-air festival will feature two days of attractions including rhythm and blues, jazz, Motown and rock music, a juried art show with 175 crafts people exhibiting their latest wares, ethnic and classic American food, premium wines and microbrews, a farmers’ market and a variety of attractions for kids.

Ten bands will perform traditional favorites like blues, jazz, rhythm and blues, Motown and rock. The music lineup includes Splashback, PT & The Cruzers, Super Squeeze, Blue House, Flashback, Sage, Mad & Eddie Duran, Dreamroad, GrooveCamp and Ancient Winds.

For kids, there will be the Tons Of Fun Zone, featuring a 24-foot climbing wall, Bomber’s Magic Circus, Crazy Yo-Yo balloon rings, face painting, body art, jumbo bounce, inflatable slide, train rides, kid’s safety identification, police and fire department displays.

Original work in ceramics, glass, fine art, jewelry, leather, textiles and wood will offered by the exhibiting artists. Among the wares for sale: vases, flatware, clocks, dishes, wall and table decorations, paperweights, glass, etchings, sculptures, photography, paintings, beadwork, jewelry and more.

Festival eateries will be dishing up a menu of Thai barbecue chicken and pork-on-a stick, sausages, pepper steak sandwiches, taco salad, burritos, crab cakes, fish and chips, grilled corn on the cob, baked potatoes, fried calamari, funnel cake, smoothies, strawberry shortcake and more.

Farm-fresh fruits and vegetables direct from the growers will also be sold.

The festival will run 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday.

For more information, call 964-3395 or logon to www.miramarevents.com .