This past Saturday would have been the 35th “Annual Baby Show Off,” a neighborhood rite of passage organized by Janet Loveland and Sue Carr of Loveland Carr Properties. The event started as a favor to a friend who wanted to meet other moms in the neighborhood, and kept on going because it was just too adorable to stop doing. (This writer even went one year. That baby is now 27!)
“Over the years fashions changed but it was always an opportunity for moms to get to know other moms with children 3 and under,” explained Anne Loveland, who told us the event even made the Los Angeles Times in the fall of 1999. “Men were never invited but they often came because they didn’t want to miss out on the fun.”
“There were years where twins were the norm; dads and dads came, moms and moms came, then “Baby Show Off ” kids started coming with their own kids, grandmothers came with their grandchildren (repeat!). The “Baby Show Off” reflected the times and the evolution of families in the neighborhood,” said Loveland, adding “there were always lots and lots of babysitting jobs that followed each event for neighborhood teenagers who helped us.”
Thanks to Anne Loveland for sharing this photo album capturing the last 35 years. And here’s hoping everyone can get together for next year’s “Baby Show Off.”
