On the final Sunday of this year's East Bay Open Studios, Oakland's Jingletown saved the best for last. 

It was one of the hottest days we've had to date this summer, so what better way to bid farewell to spring than with an early Summer Solstice parade?

That's just what resident performing arts collective Chthonic Theater had in mind when it organized this past Sunday's parade and tour of the district's artist studios on June 13.

Participants of the parade were welcome to show up at noon in costume. No costume? No problem. At the group's home base there were plenty to go around, that is, if you were willing to strut your stuff in a purple tentacle skirt or an enormous, sparkling shrimp hat. Throw on some face paint and you were ready for the tour.

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The 4:20 Gallery, an organizing force in the Jingletown Arts and Business Community - JABC - showed off its artists and equipped visitors with maps, information and proud Jingletown gear. This year, more than 24 Jingletown artists participated in Open Studios and showed everything from painting and photography to mosaics and puzzles. 

At Ford Street Studios - a live/work space for more than a dozen artists - the costumes and singing surprised more than a few gallery visitors. Some families came from Berkeley after already having enjoyed the festival in Live Oak Park. Visitors were welcomed into the artists' homes for the event.

These tight-knit community artists have been working and growing together for several years. The establishment of the JABC organization has further focused their efforts, collaboration and support of each other's art, as well as the beautification of this developing neighborhood. There are full walls of colorful mosaics done by the Institute of Mosaic Arts, a block-long mural is in the works and community clean-up days are a regular occurrence.

Desiree Ralph, an early visitor to Lee Krasnow's Pacific Puzzleworks workshop, drove over from Pleasanton.

"We decided to come see what Open Studios was about, but we had no idea all of this was here," she said. "What a great way to see more of the East Bay!"

After trying their hand at the beautiful, but seemingly impossible wooden puzzles, Ralph and her friend asked if there was some place nearby to grab lunch. They were promptly directed just around the corner to Kefa Coffee, which serves up fresh sandwiches and boasts the tallest latte foam we've seen on this side of the bay. 

This is how business grows. This is how a community grows. This is how our city grows. Just add art.