In full swing
The 86th Annual Lindsay Orange Blossom Festival officially began Saturday night at Lindsay City Hall with the coronation of 2018 Queen Mariana Gutierrez, kicking off a series of public appearances around the community for the Queen and her court leading up to Saturday’s parade and a full day of festivities.
Accompanied by attendants Marlene Gutierrez, Angel Nicole Rocha, Audrey Bradford, Ikonkar Kaur Khalsa and Honored Couple Starr and Yonok Warson, Gutierrez has already attended mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Sunday and made appearances at Lindsay schools and the School Board meeting on Monday and the Lindsay City Council meeting on Tuesday.
“All the girls selected in the court are in the top of their class, and the Queen is actually a college graduate, so we want our local students to emulate them as they’re growing up,” said Danny Salinas, president of the Orange Blossom Festival committee. “It gives them a very positive role model.”
The Queen and her court will be interviewed by KTIP Radio at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, and will go out to a local grove and help pick oranges to capture the spirit of the event. Wednesday evening they will attend a Sacred Heart Church reception at the Wellness Center, 860 N. Sequoia Ave. in Lindsay at 7 p.m.
The Orange Blossom Festival carnival will also begin Wednesday at 5 p.m. in the Lindsay City Park, and will run through Sunday at 10 p.m.
Thursday the Queen and her court will attend a reception hosted by Lindsay Bank of the Sierra at 5:30 p.m., and Friday’s events include an 11:30 a.m. lunch at the Orange Works Cafe, a 5 p.m. reception at the Lindsay Cultural Arts Museum, and a Farmer’s Market Stroll in Sweet Briar Plaza at 7:15 p.m. All events are open to the public and most are free to attend.
Saturday’s events begin early with a 5K/10K Fun Run 7 a.m. at Lindsay High School and a horseshoe tournament in the city park at 8 a.m. Registration fees are $30 for the Fun Run and $50 for the horseshoe tournament.
The Lindsay Kiwanis Club will be hosting a pancake breakfast on the Lindsay City Hall lawn at 8 a.m. and a Tour de Danish Bike Ride will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the beginning of the parade route. Registration for the bike ride is $25.
The parade itself begins Saturday at 10 a.m. Salinas said this year’s parade will feature 42 entries and most will end up at the City Park, where the Orange Blossom Festival will begin at 11 a.m.
“We’ll have 17 to 20 food vendors, and an additional 20 retail and political vendors and informational booths,” said Salinas. “It’ll be a little bit of everything.”
The public is invited to drop off their favorite orange-themed treats at the festival for judging in the Bakeoff.
Entertainment will be provided at the festival from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. by the band Force-em from Fresno, who will be playing a variety of R&B, old school and Spanish songs.
R.I. Clearman, then secretary/manager of the Lindsay Chamber of Commerce, organized the first Orange Blossom Festival on April 23, 1932 to promote the annual orange harvest and help counteract the blues felt in the community from the Great Depression.
Each year since then, with only a few misses, Lindsay has celebrated the event with an Orange Blossom Queen and her court, an Honored Couple, a Saturday parade, and a celebration in the City Park.
“It’s always been a positive event for the town. We get an influx of local residents and people from out of town that come and enjoy our festival,” said Salinas, who has been a member of the OBF committee for many years and president for the last 15. “Any time you can bring in visitors from other towns it’s a big plus for the city.”
The first two Orange Blossom Festivals featured a performance of Valda Prizer’s “The Pageant of the San Joaquin” and featured a cast of more 400 members. Other festivals over the years have included jack rabbit races, orange packing contests, and a world class bicycle race drawing bicyclists from all over the United States.
The modern-day Orange Blossom Festival is a collaborative effort between the fivemember committee, the Lindsay Kiwanis Club, local business partners and dozens of volunteers who work behind the scenes just to give back to the community. The committee uses the funds raised from the event to enhance the City Park’s facilities.
Through the changes that come over time, the Orange Blossom Festival has always given residents of Lindsay and surrounding communities something to look forward to when Spring returns and the smell of orange blossoms fill the air.
“This event is our claim to fame. When you’re in the parade and you see the look on kids’ faces and their big smiles, it’s really heartwarming,” said Salinas. “Year after year we see those same kids come out and we watch them growing up, and we want people to come out again Saturday and enjoy some great fun.”
For more details on this week’s itinerary of OBF events, visit www. lindsayorangeblossom.org.