KELSEYVILLE ? People gathered to celebrate community and show pride for the Lake County pear Saturday at the 15th annual Kelseyville Pear Festival on Main Street.
About 9,000 people stopped by for the variety of entertainment that filled the streets throughout the day. Up from about 8,000-9,000 attendees last year, chairwoman of the festival Marilyn Holdenreid said the ever-growing success of the festival has inspired a new mantra: “It takes a village to put on the Kelseyville Pear Festival.”
With planning and organization for the festival beginning months in advance, many people this year jumped on board to help.
“There are so many thank you”s to be given out. Everyone helped so much, even down to the girl scouts who painted the pear faces on the sidewalk and the army of men who appeared Friday and Saturday to help set up and take things down. I heard many of them say, ?we”re happy to help in our town,”” Holdenreid said.
The preparation for the festival begins with help from the merchants on Main Street, and Pear Festival 2007 volunteers buzzing around making sure everything flows smoothly during the day”s activities.
“The merchants so generously paint and clean and invite visitors in. There are always so many people who step forward to make it such a wonderful day. And we”re so lucky to have had such beautiful weather,” Holdenreid said.
Chuck Carpenter, one of the members of this year”s designated Grand Marshals?the Carpenter family, said the “main event” for his family was his mother, Carmen Carpenter, who was honored by having her long-time pear ranching family featured on the Eleven Roses Ranch wagon.
“It was fun, it was an honor?we enjoyed it. The grandkids and my mother enjoyed it immensely,” Carpenter said. “Carmen wanted to stand up, but we made her sit down because of the mules, it goes pretty fast.”
He added that the children in his family loved the pear pavilion, and that his mother and brother enjoyed the storytellers.
“I didn”t see as much because I had a class reunion of 50 years going on at the same time. 15 of us from Kelseyville High School were there. It was for the year 1957 and several years around 1957 were invited. We met where the parade started and so I spent quite a bit of time there, it was a lot of fun,” Carpenter said.
Holdenreid said that the event is community-run; featuring the best the town of Kelseyville has to offer. “When I asked people what they enjoyed the most it was still just seeing their friends, and all of the food. I was delighted to see so many people at the pear pavilion, the quilt show and art show. I also think the parade is still a highlight, there were so many people who brought their antique tractors?I love that.”
She added that they will be expanding the very popular exhibits at the festival?from the brand new storytelling and documentary video exhibit to the traditional pear recipe and cooking contest area.
“The exhibits make our festival different and so special. Also, the parade is such a great way to start the festival with the Kelseyville High School jazz band, and of course the plane flyover. There were so many children looking up at the sky and pointing?just so excited to see the planes flying overhead,” Holdenreid said.
The new storytelling exhibit featuring Peter Windrem and Dianne Henderson telling their tales about growing up on pear farms was a success, Holdenreid said. “It was great fun and enjoyed by all,” said Windrem. “I expect there will be more storytelling next year, with even more stories. Dianne Henderson did a wonderful job.”
The storytelling will become a mainstay at the festival, according to Holdenreid, along with the documentary films depicting the history of the festival and the Lake County pear industry.
“I think the storytelling went well, and it”s an event that we want to expand on. Next year we want to make it bigger. I think there”s a lot of interest in that and the historical videos,” Holdenreid said.
She said just like the past 14 festivals, this year”s festival continues to inspire and bring community together. “In the greater scheme of things, I think the festival was great, but we still have a few issues that we need to fix. As team member John Puccetti says ?until we get it right, we have to keep doing it,”” Holdenreid said.
Contact Elizabeth Wilson at ewilson@record-bee.com
