According to the California Peach festival web site at http://www.capeachfestival.com/, the first California Peach Festival was held in Marysville 8 years ago back in 1999. Back then, it was just a small street event. Jody Sodaro and Andrew Coolidge both helped to create the first California Peach Festival. Since that time, the festival has gained in popularity throughout the state of California and it has also grown a great deal to encompass a larger portion of Historic Downtown Marysville.
The 8th annual Peach Festival came to Marysville, California again this year between 20th-21st July. The nice thing about the annual California Peach Festival is that there was no admission charge, parking was also free and available at Mervyn’s. The events were planned with children and adults alike. Many local vendors and charities sponsored the two-day event.
Peaches were the star attraction of this two day event! With temperatures soaring and children out of school, this was an ideal time to have the annual California peach festival. The California Peach Festival kicked off on Friday 20th July at 6:00pm in Historic Downtown Marysville and carried on until 11:00pm.
The opening evening of the California Peach Festival started at 6:00pm. Bands such as “Inside Straight” performed country and rock music. Not into country and rock music? That doesn’t matter. The semi-final of the no-hands peach pie eating contest kicked off at 9:00pm until 11:00pm. Participants had to register online at www.capeachfestival.com for a chance to win.
To get people into the Peach Festival mood, peaches and pancakes were served for breakfast on Saturday at the corner of 1st and D streets in Downtown Marysville between 8:00am-11:00am.
The peach pie contestants did not have to wait long for the championship. This was held in the evening, with prizes awarded to the winner, Frank Diaz.
Children of all ages were invited to take a break from the hot sun and get involved with some arts and crafts. Some of the highlights included water wars, as families faced each other and threw water balloons at each other through a slingshot. One family split in half with the dad and daughter on one team and the mum and son on the other. The dad and daughter ended up drenching the mum and son, whereas the other team could not get the slingshot to work for them! It was fun to watch.
A petting zoo was set up that contained a pot-bellied pig, puppies, goats and unusual looking chickens. Close at hand were Shetland ponies ready to take children on a ride. There was a strict no petting policy in place for the Shetland ponies though.
Peaches were everywhere to be seen. There was no mistaking what the festival was all about! They were being sold at several fruit stands in bulk or by the pound and there were other stalls selling peach cobbler, peach iced tea, peach lemonade, peach ice cream, peach cinnamon rolls, to name just a few. The peach ice cream was delicious and refreshing.
For visitors who simply wanted to walk up and down the stalls and accept freebies from vendors, then that was catered for too. Vendors were quick with their smiles and gifts for passers-by who stopped by to look at their goods. Some vendors even offered people money off coupons to visit their restaurants, notebooks, fans, fridge magnets and other goodies. All in all, this was a busy, fun filled event for families and friends to attend together.
Source:
http://www.capeachfestival.com/
