April 1 deadline for Harvest Holidays grand marshal nominations

April 1 is the deadline to submit grand marshal nominations and information for the 2022 Delano Harvest Holidays celebration.

Applications can be found online or picked up and returned to the Delano Chamber of Commerce office. The link online will be on Harvest’s Facebook page.

The Grand Marshal will be chosen by the board of directors during the spring.

“Delano Harvest Holidays Association — Harvesting the Values We Sow” was selected as the theme of the 77th annual celebration at a February meeting of directors.

President Claribel Gutierrez and other directors welcomed Lydia Chavez as a new director. She had prior service as a director before leaving the board. The president announced that the state had notified Harvest of approval for a non-profit tax ID number that was sought by the board for more than a year.

In other business, a donation was voted for Delano’s Relay for Life, and directors approved a $40 fee per entry for the Grand Parade and a $100 fee for politicians. Nonprofits will not be charged.

Recruitment of candidates for king and queen of the festival will start in May, reported Liz Morris and Delisa Gallego.

Starting in March, meetings will take place on the second Monday of the month at 601 High St. starting at 6 p.m.

Dates that have been established for 2022 are Tiny Tots — Sept. 17; King/Queen Show — Sept. 24; and barbecue and parade — Oct. 8.

The parade still requires city approval. It was reported that a carnival may be possible for the Oct. 8 weekend.

Although no decision has been reached, it has been reported that the graduations at Robert F. Kennedy, Cesar Chavez and Delano high schools will likely be in the same fashion as last year — all graduates seated in their respective stadiums with two guests. Babe Ruth League baseball will include four teams this spring, reports Art Armendariz, longtime past president and still involved with the program.

Sign-ups for the program for youth ages 12 to 15 and a $100 registration fee will take place sometime in early March, he said.

League games are to start in mid-May.

For years I reported sports for the now defunct Delano Record, dating back to the 1950s. Delano had a strong program, especially as the only high school up until the turn of the century.

Currently and in the near future the high school programs will be severely challenged.

Last spring Delano high schools were limited in travel and most contests had to take place in Delano or the nearby communities of Wasco and McFarland. Many schools continued football and winter sports, but they were not allowed in Delano.

When fall programs at the high schools in Delano were restarted after a year “off,” Delano High at the last moment lost a coach and had no girls tennis team in the fall — two straight years with no competition for Delano High girls.

Tennis, especially, has been difficult to restart locally because the courts at the three high schools and the city’s four courts at Jefferson Park have been locked up, available only at the schools when girls teams were playing last fall and now boys teams in the spring.

The recreation department’s sports have been shut down, and the elementary school district has not restarted its programs either. I have heard of some parents taking their youngsters to out-of-Delano sites to take part in sports.

Now I have been told that the local Little League baseball program may also fold, leaving no organized play for youth under the baseball age of Babe Ruth. IF it is to start up, and it would have to be soon, please give me a call at 725-8803.

When and if youth programs can be revived, I would suggest clinics on all sports, much like those that Mark Ruiz, Lionel Reyna and others furnished in baseball for youth a few years back.

With local high schools not allowing food service on campus for events, Delano’s Athletic Hall of Fame is going “off campus” and scheduling its dinner and ceremonies POSSIBLY on Monday, June 13, at Tony’s Firehouse Grill on County Line Road.

Owner Anthony Martinez has offered to furnish a steak dinner with baked potato, salad and roll.

The Hall of Fame committee is contacting inductees but is still searching for inductees or families of John Beck, Kenneth Watkins, Ray Mendoza, Robert Markham and John Hooks Jr.

If anyone has their addresses or phone numbers, call Delano High athletic director Albino Duran, 661-720-4378; Henry or Rachel Mendoza, 661-725-8604; Jerva Winn, 661-565-2355/661565-5609; Roger Gadiano, 661725-7031; or myself, Gary Girard, 661-725-8803.

Zsaby Diana, a Delano High senior, has been selected Student of the Month for November and December of 2021.

The active Delano High student represented the school last summer at California Girls State, which was reportedly a virtual event.

As I was writing this column, I got a call from Zana Chaney that Zsaby had battled a health issue for more than a month and was behind in making contacts for Girls State. She deserves much credit for keeping the program alive for local girls.

I don’t think Boys State was even furnished last summer to local high schools. I still remember how vital such a Boys State program was when I was among five Delano High boys chosen to attend at the Sacramento Fairgrounds back in the summer of 1953 — Sam Anderson, Jim Dempsey, Phil Mostajo and one other student I cannot recall.

With policies pushed by President

Biden and Gov. Newsom to reduce and eliminate the nation’s dependence on oil, the prices have zoomed upward and a new crisis may be looming.

If I recall correctly my reading of Californian articles, Russia was to have a pipeline of oil to Europe. As war has broken out in the Ukraine, that pipeline could be delayed or eliminated, meaning a shortage of oil in Europe.

That shortage would affect prices and availability of oil worldwide. Again, the leaders have “condemned” domestic oil production, and again consumers will have to pay higher prices. The price of gas from Biden’s inauguration day to current times has increased locally from $2.739 to $4.059 on average and could go up much higher with spring and summer coming up.

During the Super Bowl, advertising pushed the administration’s move to all-electric vehicles.

I notice the advertisements NEVER mention the prices of electric vehicles or the monthly payments, something that has long been included in TV ads.

Ash Wednesday arrives on Wednesday, March 2. Daylight saving time begins Sunday, March 13. St. Patrick’s Day is March 17, and the first day of spring is Sunday, March 20.

Hopefully, March will also mean fewer cases of COVID.

As I write this column, it is being reported that COVID cases are falling. But I read in The Californian daily that Kern County cases are near or over 1,000 and deaths often in double figures for one day.