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Arroyo Grande Harvest Festival
Celebrating its 75th year By Vivian Krug
T
he Harvest Festival is Arroyo Grande Valley’s largest local annual community event. It is a time for children, families and friends to join together for fun and celebration. One of the things that makes Arroyo Grande so special is its strong sense of community and the Harvest Festival plays a big part in building and maintaining that environment.
The Harvest Festival is much more than just a parade and fair, it is a celebration of community and of our heritage. The Festival represents much of what makes this community so special. Pie eating contest
The first Harvest Festival was organized by the Woman’s Club in 1937. It was a two-day celebration held in an elementary school building. Food, booths and entertainment were held in the classrooms and a children’s pet parade took place on the Saturday of the Festival. The Woman’s Club ran the Festival until 1946 when they asked for community supporters to take over. The Festival continued to grow and became the primary annual event in the entire Valley. Many folks talk about how they used to dress up the entire week of the festival and work on their floats for the parade all year. We’re proud to announce that this year’s Grand Marshal is the Woman’s Club for without whom our festival would not exist. It is also the Woman’s Club 75th anniversary! The Festival is organized and conducted completely by volunteers and almost every community organization and service club is involved in at least one of the activities. Kids Veggie Decorating contest
Kids enjoying the day with Ballooney the Clown and President Lincoln
This year’s festival kicks off on Friday night with the Rotary Fish Fry, Entertainment, Chili Contest, Salsa Contest, games, booths, Haunted Maze and free movie night in Heritage Square Park! Saturday begins with the best Hometown Parade this side of the Pecos, then the rest of the day is filled with several stages of free entertainment all day long, kids games, historic reenactments, craft and food booths, petting zoo, an agriculture pavilion, historic and tractor displays, Paws of Thunder Wiener Dog Races, Baking, Pie, Honey, Ice Cream and Bread Making Contest, Costume Contest, Homegrown Vegetable, Fruit and Flower Competition, Diaper Derby, Haunted Maze, Whiskerino Contest, Big Ditch Derby, Corn Shucking and Corn Eating Contest, a good old fashioned Pie Eating Contest, Spelling Bees in the Santa Manuela Schoolhouse, Model Railroads on display in the Barn Museum, Boy Scouts Expo with Monkey Bridge, TeePee, Pinewood Box Derby and displays, Law Enforcement Museum, Historic Guns & Badge Display, AG High School Robotics Team, Ballooney the Clown entertains the children in his “Kid Zone” in Heritage Square Park all afternoon, President Lincoln and Colonel Knox will be on the Festival Grounds all day doing re-enactments, answering questions, doing photo opps and at the end of the day, leading the Kids Parade ending with the annual Lincoln Penny Toss with the help of Ballooney! The Harvest Festival Board of Directors would like to recognize everyone who worked so hard to make the Festival a huge success. We would like to thank all the Festival committee members and also the community for their overwhelming support, especially the Festival Sponsors and Service Organizations who provided outstanding contributions. And don’t forget to purchase your Harvest Festival Button available at stores throughout Arroyo Grande for $1.00, which not only buys you a chance to win one of many great prizes, but, it also keeps you out of the Hoosgow (jail)! You are subject to arrest if you are caught not wearing a Harvest Festival button or dressed in period clothing at the festival! Anyone caught not wearing Vintage or Western Clothing or a Harvest Festival Button will be arrested and thrown in the Festival Hoosgow, so not only does your button keep you out of Jail, but since you’re all dressed up, why not enter the Costume Contest? As we turn back the hands of time, and bring back some of the events and activities of yesteryear, we hope that our 75th year of entertainment, food, activities, contests and games will make memories of a lifetime. So, we’ll see you on September 28th and 29th for the 75th Annual Arroyo Grande Valley Harvest Festival. For more information go to AGHarvestFestival.com.
S E P T E M B E R
2012
Journal PLUS