Winters, CA Tractor Parade & Festival (Tree Lighting) 2022

Winters Tractor Parade & Festival (Tree Lighting)

Tractors and festive fun are coming to town

Winters Express

The annual Winters Hol iday Tractor Parade and Festival is coming back this year with fun for the whole community. The two-day event has family-fun sched uled on Friday, Dec. 2 and Saturday, Dec. 3.

For this year’s festivities, the City of Winters teamed up with Bay Area Pop Up Events to plan and organize all the details to provide a fun, safe and family-friend ly experience.

All of the event informa tion is available at winters tractorparade.com.

Friday, Dec. 2

The festivities are kick ing off on Friday, Dec. 2 starting at 2 p.m. with a Hol iday Marketplace in Rotary Park and along Downtown Main Street. The Holiday Marketplace features ven dors and children’s activ ities. Later that evening there will be live entertain ment from Winters school bands, the annual Winters Tree Lighting Ceremony, and a special meet-andgreet event with Santa and friends.

Road closures

On Friday, Main Street will be closed from Noon from the Rotary Park drive way to Second Street until 10 p.m. City Manager Kathleen Salguero Trepa said the Railroad Avenue and Main Street intersection will be closed beginning at 3:30 p.m. and will reopen when it is safe for pedestrians to cross safely unassisted.

Schedule of events

Rotary Park (Railroad Avenue and Main Street)

From 2 to 9 p.m., the

Holiday Marketplace will feature face painting, a hands-on tie-dye activity, local vendors with holiday gifts and toys, and holiday music.

Main Street (from Elliot Street to Second Street)

From 2–9 p.m. enjoy: food vendors and food trucks featuring a variety of cui sines, the Holiday Mar ketplace with more hol iday-themed exhibitors, Solano Jumps with inflat able attractions and a pet ting zoo with Friendly Pony Parties and Barnyard Pals.

The Winters Downtown Business Association is hosting this year’s Hot Co coa Crawl and Elf Hunt from 4 to 7 p.m. at local busi nesses along Main Street. Back at Rotary Park, from 5 to 5:45 p.m., the Winters Middle School and Winters High School bands will perform at the Gazebo. The annual Tree Lighting Cere mony begins at 6 p.m. Families can attend a

meet-and-greet with Santa and friends at the Gazebo immediately following the Tree Lighting Ceremony until 9 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 3

More festive activities are being hosted on Sat urday, Dec. 3 starting at 10 a.m. in Rotary Park and at 2 p.m. at Winters City Park prior to the start of the an nual Holiday Tractor Pa rade on Main Street.

Road closures

On Saturday, Trepa said road closures will begin at Noon in the Downtown area and will extend down to accommodate the trac tor staging areas and pe destrian foot traffic. Food trucks, vendors and porta ble toilet stations will be located alongside streets along the parade route from Haven Street down to Morgan Street. In her Fri day Update on Nov. 18, Tre pa requested Main Street property owners to not tape off the street in front

of their property for their exclusive use. “Everyone is welcome to set out chairs to reserve a spot along the public street. Please do not block sidewalks,” Trepa said.

Schedule of events

Winters Community Center (201 Railroad Avenue)

Winters Friends of the Library is hosting its annu al Family Holiday Festival on Saturday, Dec. 3, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Winters Community Center. The event features family-fun activities including student music performances, crafts to make and buy, visits with Santa, Mrs. Claus’ Kitchen, and adult and children’s books for purchase.

Rotary Park (Railroad Avenue and Main Street)

Outside in Rotary Park, the Holiday Marketplace will be back from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. featuring: face

Stumpy’s Trucking is a fan favorite. In 2021, Stumpy’s Trucking featured two entries in the annual Holiday Tractor Parade.

Linda Hightower/ Courtesy photo

painting, a hands-on tiedye activity, local vendors with holiday gifts and toys, holiday music, plus food trucks and food vendors.

Winters City Park (between Fourth Street and Haven Street)

Family-friendly fun is happening at Winters City Park from 2 to 9 p.m. featur ing: food vendors and food trucks featuring a variety of cuisines, the Holiday Mar ketplace with more holi day-themed exhibitors, So lano Jumps with inflatable attractions and a petting

zoo

Tractor Parade

The Holiday Tractor Parade begins at 6 p.m. starting from Haven Street down to Morgan Street. This year’s parade fea tures more than 30 entries. A full listing is available at https://tinyurl.com/56ht nc3f.

Families can attend a meet-and-greet with Santa and friends at the Gazebo immediately following the Tree Lighting Ceremony from 7:30 to 9 p.m.

Sara Simmons/Courtesy photo

with Friendly Pony Parties and Barnyard Pals.

A glimpse of past Tractor Parades

The first Lighted Tractor Pa rade first rolled down Main Street in 2015. Starting with 32 tractor entries, Winters residents lined up the street for some good, small-town fun. Since then, the novelty of tractors decked out with Christmas Lights in a parade has attracted thousands to the annual event. With the excep tion of 2020, when the Tractor Parade was paused due to the pandemic, the event has con tinued to grow year after year. In 2021, the event was extend ed to include a cocoa crawl and elf hunt the Friday before.

The 2022 event will now host a Holiday Market at Rotary Park and family-fun events down at Winters City Park prior to the beginning of the parade.

Winters Express

Stephanie Atherton drove the first tractor in Winters’ first Lighted Tractor Parade, in 2015, along downtown Main Street.

Express file photo

As a local resident of the California community, I am extremely passionate about my hometown and all that its beautiful neighborhoods have to offer. I pride myself on providing my clients with the most thorough, full service experience by creating relationships that extend beyond the sale. Appreciating the diverse culture of California is what makes my job truly rewarding, but seeing the smiles on my clients faces when they find the home of their dreams is what makes my job the best. Let's find your home together.

Turkovich Family Wine’s flamethrowing entry is a crowd favorite and generally signals the end of the parade entry. Turkovich teams up with Yolo Ballooning Adventures and lights up the sky.

Rosemary Hemenway/ Winters Express

Emily Back, the owner of Claire’s Cupcakery, displays a lighted cupcake on her tractor entry in the 2018 Winters Tractor Parade.

Express file photo

By Aaron Geerts Express staff writer

Santa Claus is real, but he’s just one man who can’t be everywhere at once. That’s why Troy Barnett — a.k.a. DJ Barnett — has lent the jolly man a helping hand for over two decades.

Barnett first became one of Santa’s helpers back in 1998 in West Palm Beach, Fla. At the time, Barnett was trying to land a job as a DJ on a cruise ship, but nothing was available. As Christmas approached, however, a position as one of Santa’s helpers opened up and Barnett jumped at the opportunity. Although it wasn’t ideal, it was a foot in the door.

“It was very little money, but I wasn’t going to have to pay for rent and my food was taken care of because I was going to live on the ship. That was how I started being Santa, and it was the start of eight years of my life working on this cruise ship,” explained Barnett.

According to Barnett, the day after Thanksgiving, in 1998, he started training for the Christmas Holiday show on the ship. He would mingle with guests with his Santa persona and worked two shows a day before be ing a DJ in the disco in the evenings.

“It was long hours, but it was a lot of fun, and I give a lot of credit to Santa for coming into my life and ask ing me to help him out and work on a cruise ship,” Bar nett said.

After having his fun in Florida, Barnett eventual ly moved back to the West Coast. It was 2012 and Mike Sebastian had officially hung up his Santa’s helpers hat. That’s when Barnett opted to bolster the holly jolly ranks, put on the red coat, and continue helping spread holiday cheer.

During the pandemic, he stepped his efforts up to

the next level and includ ed theatrical beards and changed out parts of his suit.

“I do Santa visits, photo graphs with families and house visits. Come Decem ber, we’re just busy with Santa and the DJ busi ness,” Barnett said.

Barnett is unable to help Santa out this year for the annual Tractor Parade due to DJ gigs on his schedule. Barnett reflected on the impact his assistance to Santa had on the commu nity. Regardless of one’s belief status of Santa, the smiles the sight of his like ness brings youth are very real.

“Just seeing the kids’ faces. It’s like watching them believe, especially the adults. I always say, ‘If you don’t believe, you

won’t receive.’ It’s just a little humor I like to add to it, because it’s not just about Santa, it’s about the spirit of giving and sharing happiness and family. It’s amazing when you see kids and they just light up,” said Barnett.

“I really enjoy reading ‘The Night Before Christ mas.’ During COVID, I was making videos for people all over the country. They’d message me and ask if I could make them a video and I would send videos to places like Michigan and Florida. I would do phone calls and FaceTiming kids,” said Barnett.

One of his most memora ble experiences in helping Santa bring joy to families was when he worked with Tecera Philbrook to bring Christmas cheer to chil

dren whose father had re cently died.

“They didn’t even have internet, so Tecera helped them get that so they could have a FaceTime with San ta. It was cool, because I could sympathize with them losing their dad be cause I’d just lost my step dad in 2019,” Barnett said.

“I wanted to help these kids get through this hard time and have a good Christmas. I used their first names and they really believed Santa was talking to them.”

To learn more about this Santa helper, visit djbar nett.com and look under the “more” drop-down menu. Information is also available on the DJ Barnett Entertainment social me dia accounts on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and You Tube.

Christian Duran/Courtesy photo

Santa Barnett with Natasha and Hunter.

“Just seeing the kids’ faces. It’s like watching them believe, especially the adults. I always say, ‘If you don’t believe, you won’t receive.’ .... it’s about the spirit of giving and sharing happiness and family.”

DJ Barnett

Los tractores Navideños y la diversión festiva llegan a la ciudad

Traducido por Carol Alfonso

El Desfile y Festival Anu al de Tractores Navideños de Winters (Winters Hol iday Tractor Parade and Festival) regresa este año con diversión para toda la comunidad. El evento de dos días tiene eventos de diversión familiar pro gramados para el Viernes 2 y el Sábado 3 de Diciembre.

Para las festividades de este año, la ciudad de Win ters se asoció con Bay Area Pop Up Events para plani ficar y organizar todos los detalles para brindar una experiencia familiar diver tida y segura.

Toda la información del evento está disponible en winterstractorparade.com.

Viernes, 2 de Diciembre

Las festividades comienzan el Viernes 2 de Diciembre a partir de las 2 p.m. con el Holiday Marketplace en Rotary

Park y a lo largo del Cen tro (Downtown) de Main Street. El Holiday Market place presenta vendedores y actividades para niños.

Más tarde esa noche hab rá entretenimiento en vivo de las bandas escolares de Winters, la Ceremonia an ual de iluminación del ár bol de Winters y un evento especial para conocer y sa ludar a Santa y sus amigos.

Cierres de carreteras

El Viernes, Main Street estará cerrada desde el mediodía desde la entrada de Rotary Park hasta Sec ond Street hasta las 10 p.m. La administradora de la ciudad, Kathleen Salguero Trepa, dijo que la intersec ción de Railroad Avenue y Main Street estará cerrada a partir de las 3:30 p.m. y reabrirá cuando sea seguro para los peatones cruzar sin ayuda.

Horario de eventos

Rotary Park (Railroad Avenue y Main Street)

De 2 p.m. a 9 p.m., Holi day Marketplace contará con pintura facial, una ac tividad práctica de teñi do anudado, vendedores locales con regalos y jug uetes navideños, y música navideña.

Main Street (desde Elliot Street hasta Second Street)

De 2 a 9 p.m. disfrute de vendedores de comida y camiones de comida con una variedad de cocinas, Holiday Marketplace con más expositores con temas navideños, Solano Jumps con atracciones inflables y un zoológico de mascotas con Friendly Pony Parties y Barnyard Pals.

La Asociación de Nego cios del Centro de Winters (Winters Downtown Busi ness Association) está or ganizando el Hot Cocoa Crawl (Chocolate caliente)

y Elf Hunt (Búsqueda del duende) de este año de 4 a 7 p.m. en negocios locales a lo largo de Main Street.

De vuelta en Rotary Park, de 5 a 5:45 p.m., las bandas de Winters Middle School (Escuela Media de Win ters) y Winters High School (Escuela Secundaria de Winters) tocarán en el Ga zebo. La Ceremonia Anual de Iluminación del Árbol comienza a las 6 p.m.

Las familias pueden asistir a una reunión con Santa y sus amigos en el Gazebo inmediatamente después de la Ceremonia de Encendido del Árbol hasta las 9 p.m. Sábado, 3 de Diciembre

Se realizarán más activ idades festivas el Sábado 3 de Diciembre a partir de las 10 a.m. en el Rotary Park y a las 2 p.m. en Winters City Park antes del inicio del Desfile Anual de Tractores

Navideños en Main Street. Cierres de carreteras

El Sábado, Trepa dijo que los cierres de carret eras comenzarán al medi odía en el área del centro (Downtown) y se extend erán hacia abajo para aco modar las áreas de prepa ración de tractores y el tráf ico peatonal. Los camiones de comida, los vendedores y las estaciones de baños portátiles se ubicarán a lo largo de las calles a lo largo de la ruta del desfile desde Haven Street hasta Morgan Street. En su actualización del pasado Viernes del 18 de Noviembre, Trepa so licitó a los propietarios de Main Street a que no cierren la calle frente a su propiedad para su uso ex clusivo. “Todos pueden co locar sillas para reservar un lugar en la calle públi ca. Favor de no bloquear

Ann Diaz/Courtesy photo

Más de 10,000 personas se alinearon Main Street desde City Park hasta Rotary Park para echar un vistazo al desfile de tractores de vacaciones de invierno de 2021.

Winters Friends of the Library (Amigos de la Biblioteca de Winters) está orga nizando su Festival

Anual de Navidad Familiar el Sábado 3 de Diciembre, de 10 a.m. a 2 p.m. en el Centro Comunitario de Winters. El evento presenta actividades divertidas para la fa milia que incluyen ac tuaciones musicales de los estudiantes, artesanías para hacer y comprar, visitas con Santa, la cocina de la Sra. Claus y venta de libros para adultos y niños.

Rotary Park (Railroad Avenue y Main Street)

Afuera, en Rota ry Park, el Holiday Marketplace estará de vuelta de 10 a.m. a 9 p.m. que incluye: pintura de caras, una actividad práctica de teñido anudado, vendedores locales con regalos y juguet es navideños, música navideña, además de camiones de comida y vendedores de comi da.

Winters City Park (entre Fourth Street y Haven Street)

La diversión famil iar está ocurriendo en Winters City Park de 2 p.m. a 9 p.m. que incluye: vendedores de comida y camiones de comida con una variedad de cocinas, Holiday Marketplace

con más expositores con temas festivos, Solano Jumps con at racciones inflables y un zoológico de mas cotas con Friendly Pony Parties y Barn yard Pals.

Desfile de tractores

El Desfile de Trac tores Navideños comienza a las 6 p.m. comenzando desde Haven Street hasta Morgan Street. El des file de este año cuenta con 33 entradas. Una lista completa está disponible en https:// tinyurl.com/56htnc3f.

Las familias pueden asistir a una reunión con Santa y sus amigos en el Gazebo inmedia tamente después de la Ceremonia de encen dido del árbol desde las 7:30 p.m. hasta las 9 p.m.

Cindy Jording/Courtesy photo

The Grinch only added to the holiday cheer in the 2021 Holiday Tractor Parade.

Sara Simmons/ Courtesy photo

The School of Rock features local youth from Winters and surrounding cities rocking out live.

Small-town gifting supports local businesses

Winters Express

‘Tis the season for enter taining, giving and gifting, and bringing holiday cheer into your home. Long gone are the days of having to travel out of town to find all the things you need to host a gathering or find the per fect gift. Winters business es can provide everything one needs.

Share a gift of home grown and locally-crafted specialties. Shopping lo cally can improve the local economy by keeping money in the community.

Entertaining

From charcuterie boards and beverages, to decor, everything to host a festive gathering is available lo cally.

Patio 29 Distillery, Ber ryessa Brewing, Berryessa Gap Vineyards, Turkovich Family Wines, Green Riv er Brewing and Taproom and Hooby’s Brewing host a selection of locally made beverages.

Berryessa Gap’s Down town Tasting Room fea tures dried fruits. Pick up cheese from the Winters Cheese Company and find

wine-infused chocolates at the Turkovich Tasting Room. Patio 29 and L’Apéro les Trois offer small-batch sets to serve at your gather ing.

Additionally, Steady Ed dy’s Coffee House, the mar ket at Carboni’s Ristoran te, Winters Collective and Upper Crust Bakery have a variety of local honey, olive oils, desserts and more.

Festive decor, orna ments, and serving wares are available from

through the Winters Collec tive, at the Farmer’s Closet Boutique and Pacific Ace Hardware.

Roxie’s Flower Truck and The Local Floret of fer flower and plant ar rangements. Though their storefronts are available

vendors

LEFT: Create a zen space with plants, crystals and stones from the Winters Collective.

BELOW: Steady Eddy’s has a selection of hand-crafted cards for the animal lover in your life.

Crystal Apilado/ Winters Express

Crystal Apilado/Winters Express

ABOVE: Bella Boutique features handmade and unique jewelry and accessories.

RIGHT: Find a varietys of children’s books on the Avid Reader’s shelf in the Winters Collective.

Crystal Apilado/Winters Express

ABOVE: Steady Eddy’s offers local honey options.

RIGHT: Turkovich Family Wines candies are great treats.

online for customized orders, last-minute flowers and plants can be found at the Winters Collective and Lorenzo’s Mar ket. Park Winters had a pick-your-own bou quet option if you give yourself enough time to schedule the oppor tunity.

Don’t forget to brew coffee from Steady Ed dy’s Roasting Room or Coffee House. There are also tea options available at the Col lective.

Gifting experiences

For the person who has everything, con sider gifting an ex perience. Many local businesses offer gift cards and service bundles.

ZenTerra Spa of fers packages and services for facial treatments or mas

sage therapy service. Consider a gift cer tificate to one of the multiple salons and barber shops around town. Kimberly Ung er Healing Arts offers class bundles for yoga and sound healing op tions.

Set up a tasting at Patio29 Distillery, Turkovich Family Wines or Berryessa Gap Vineyards.

Yolo365 Tours is a unique way to show off Winters’ local charm and entertain your guests at the same time.

The Winters Mu seum is an option to treat guests to local history. Another op tion is to bring guests to see the Winters History Murals creat ed by youth through the Winters Partici pation Gallery’s sum mer projects. Multi

ple businesses host local art galleries to browse.

The Studio Collec tive, Roxie’s Flow er Truck and Park Winters occasionally offer up classes and workshops. Look to see if anything is be ing offered through out the year.

Gift cards to a local eatery give an invi tation to friends and family to enjoy and experience Winters’ dining their way at their convenience.

Some local wineries and eateries offer seasonal dinners to look into as well as experiences to gift.

Gifts galore

Adry’s Fiesta Bou tique, Bella Boutique and The Farmer’s Closet Boutique all feature unique cloth ing, jewelry, acces

sories and more for personalized style and flair. The Winters Collective hosts mul tiple shops within its walls to create a onestop shop.

Wellness items like lotions, essential oil blends and crystals are available from PurLuv Apothecary & Spa at the Winters Collective or at Zen Terra Spa. Body-care products range from scrubs, soaking salts, balms and essen tial oils focusing on specific themes and needs. Kimberly Ung er also offers crystals and jewelry at her yoga studio.

If you are shopping for someone who en joys interior design and home decor look no further than Vin tique Marketplace

inside

Buying

Warm up with a rich, chocolate beverage

Real Hot Chocolate

Nothing beats sipping a hot, soothing beverage after a day of choosing the perfect Christmas tree or lobbing snowballs in the backyard. Teas, hot tod dies, coffees, and mulled ciders certainly can fit the bill, but a mug of rich hot chocolate is a holiday sea son staple.

Hot chocolate can be whipped up quickly from premade packets, but many such packets are loaded with sugar. Choco late lovers should have a reliable hot chocolate rec ipe to lean on when the mo ment is right. This recipe for “Real Hot Chocolate” from “Chocolate” (Parra gon) by the editors of Love Food is sure to please.

Serves 1 to 2 Ingredients

• 11⁄2 ounces semisweet chocolate, broken into pieces

• 11⁄4 cups milk

• Chocolate curls to decorate Putting it together

Place the chocolate in a large, heatproof pitcher. Place the milk in a heavy-bottom saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour about one-quarter of the milk onto the chocolate and leave until the chocolate has softened.

Whisk the milk and choc olate mixture until smooth. Return the remaining milk to the heat and return to a boil, then pour onto the chocolate, whisking constantly.

Pour into warmed mugs or cups and top with the choco late curls. Serve immediately.

Metro Special to the Express

Metro/Stock photo

Chocolate lovers should have a reliable hot chocolate recipe to lean on when the moment is right.

Crystal Apilado/Winters Express

ABOVE: Pacific Ace Hardware has everything from the grill to seasonings and kits.

RIGHT: Winters Collective has Yolo-themed hats.

the Collective or Pacific Ace Hard ware. A variety of paint, supplies and ser vices are available for someone who is crafty and has a creative vision for a room or who enjoys adding color and texture to furniture.

something for a bookworm? The Avid Reader hosts a shelf of children’s books within the Collective. There are also

multiple tabletop books, entertainment, and cookbooks available throughout the store. The Winters Friends of the Library also has a book room with gently-used books to browse through. There are liter ary gems just waiting to be discovered. Animal lovers and pet enthusiasts are easy to please with a selection of petthemed gifts