Contributing a piece

Greg Guest doesn’t mind being the odd man out.

In fact, he doesn’t mind being the only man.

For nearly a decade, the retired businessman has sewn one of the squares on the annual Sunset Beach Art Festival’s quilt. Las Damas, the neighborhood women’s club, contributes panels to the quilt, as does Guest, the husband of a Las Damas member and an experienced hand with the needle.

Guest first provided a panel for the quilt when his wife did the same, and he’s contributed every year since. The quilt, which features 30 panels this year, illustrates different aspects of Sunset Beach life, from boating to chili cook-offs to the Fireman’s Ball. Guest’s favorite image is flip-flops, and his square this year features a pair of cloth flip-flops sewn onto the fabric.

“They call it the Las Damas and Greg quilt, because I’m the only guy who does one,” Guest said. “I’m not in Las Damas, so it’s kind of funny.”

However, Guest and the 29 women who worked on the quilt this year have one thing in common — they’re intent on benefiting their community. The proceeds from the Art Festival go toward scholarships, charities and arts education in local schools. And a lot of those funds come from raffle tickets sold to people hoping to bring the quilt home.

Beneficiaries from this year’s event include the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Women Helping Women, Casa Youth Shelter and Interval House. The festival will run 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday on the “green belt” of Sunset Beach — the area between North and South Pacific avenues stretching from Broadway to Eighth Street — and feature more than 100 vendors, with hand-crafted products ranging from jewelry and clothing to paintings and pottery. There will also be live entertainment and a booth for children to make Mother’s Day gifts.

Admission is free, but the organizers raise money from vendor booth fees, T-shirt and food sales and more. Las Damas began in 1948 and launched the Art Festival 20 years later. The event has been a staple of Sunset Beach life ever since, Chairwoman Beverly Paquin said.

“I’ve got people who have been coming back for years,” she said. “It’s one of their biggest shows of the season.”

If You Go

What: Sunset Beach Art Festival

Where: Between Broadway and Eighth Street on the “green belt” by the shore in Sunset Beach

When: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

Admission: Free

Contact: (714) 846-4932