Saturday in the Laurel District was part art festival, block party and community farmer’s market, which featured a live Hawaiian hip-hop graffiti, South American world grooves and a Tongan pig roast.

A group of about 30 people gathered to take part in the event - the first Laurel Mural Art Walk tour of the day.

“It’s so wonderful to see,” said Linda Vasquez from San Leandro, as she looked at the crowd.

“It’s so vibrant and beautiful,” agreed Agnes Grace of Fruitvale. Grace has lived in the same house for 45 years and has no intention of leaving. “Unfortunately, we get a bad reputation.” She said events like this show off the diversity and goodness of Oakland.

Don Carter, member of the Laurel District Association’s street team, led the group down MacArthur, between 38th Avenue and Maybelle St. He said the artists were asked to interpret the district’s theme, “Grow the Laurel.”

Xochitl and Roberto Guerrero’s murals hang side by side on 38th Avenue and MacArthur. Xochitl said she wanted to depict “strong women of ethnicity to reflect a strong neighborhood.” Roberto explained his painting “was the yang to his wife’s yin” and portrays the past, present and future males of the neighborhood.

Laney College student Lea Perez’s mural shows vines growing from three boarded windows. Each window shows the sky at a different time - day, sunset and night. Perez said the windows are like the neighborhood.

"We’re not perfect, we may be broken, but beauty is growing,” she said.

Sophie Leininger and Jen Martin, Mills College graduates, said they wanted to tie the neighborhood to Mills. Their mural shows a woman surrounded by laurel trees, different species of birds in flight and pages from books in many languages.

Carter stopped frequently to introduce the group to businesses and merchants. The owners of Sudear's Flowers gave everyone a red rose. Carter asked fun trivia questions about Oakland Copy and Print, Graham & Co., Candy Boutique, and Marquardt Property Management, to name a few. Those with correct answers won a prize and everyone had the opportunity to linger and look around.

After the tour, the party heated up at the Oakland Community Farmer's Market. Music from Mucho Axe 4tet and the tantalizing aroma from the pig roast provided by the Peralta district of Boy Scouts of America lent a festive backdrop for the live painting of Oakland Food Connection’s bus by graffiti artists John Prime Hina and 357.

Hina said the Laurel district is home to many Pacific Island residents whose culture “is all about sharing.”

When the association asked Hina to create a mural, he was happy to oblige; he painted a hummingbird mural for the district. Although he lives in Hawaii, Hina said “Oakland is my second home.”

Pesalili Laulea, with the Boy Scouts, was in charge of roasting two pigs. The group also served steamed cassava to long, but quick, moving lines of eager feasters.

William English, district executive of the Bay Area Council for the Scouts, said the group usually has events like this to raise money, but it was providing the festive meal free of charge and accepting donations to show support for the district.

English compared the district  growing, finding its way and taking pride in its diversity and creativity, to the way the Scouts work with youth and help them find their way, to “do their best, not someone else’s.”

Association member Simone Acevedo was happy with the turnout.

“It’s about people getting along and meeting their neighbors," Acevedo said. "Once you know them, you look out for them."

Luan Stauss, owner of the Laurel Book Store, has lived in the district for 15 years. She said Tommy Wong, association director, “has done so much to make us feel connected to each other.” She added she heard several people on the tour say they didn’t know there was a book store on MacArthur.

“This is great," Stauss said. "I haven’t seen this many people walking on the boulevard since the last street fair, which was a much bigger event.”