Christo Javacheff Umbrella Display

This year the Ridge Route Communities Museum is celebrating the 20'th
anniversary of one of the most unique and spectacular events this
mountain area has ever experienced. In October of 1991 the artist,
Christo Javacheff of Bulgaria , opened and displayed 1,760 huge yellow
umbrellas along Interstate 5 from the bottom of Grapevine Canyon through Peace Valley southeast of Gorman.
On the same day, Christo had 1,340 blue umbrellas opened on the almost the same latitude in the rice paddies near Tokyo, Japan– an art “performance” reaching across the Pacific.
(Fifty years after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor- interesting!!)


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The Cristo Javacheff Umbrella Display
This year the Ridge Route Communities Museum is celebrating the 20'th anniversary of one of the most unique and spectacular events this mountain area has ever experienced. In October of 1991 the artist, Christo Javacheff of Bulgaria , opened and displayed 1,760 huge yellow umbrellas along Interstate 5 from the bottom of Grapevine Canyon through Peace Valley southeast of Gorman. On the same day, Christo had 1,340 blue umbrellas opened on the almost the same latitude in the rice paddies near Tokyo, Japan– an art “performance” reaching across the Pacific. (Fifty years after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor- interesting!!)
Some ten years in the planning, the fabric for the twenty foot high umbrellas was produced in Germany , and then cut by a sailboat company in San Diego with the posts and bases manufactured in Bakersfield , where the umbrellas were assembled as well. Crews, cranes and helicopters moved over the hills to assemble the umbrellas and thousands of art lovers volunteered to help on opening day so that the umbrellas could be opened simultaneously in both countries
Visitors from throughout California and beyond came to see the exhibit. From above, the giant yellow umbrellas dotted the hillsides in a display almost as amazing as the poppies are in the spring of the year here.