49’er Festival goes virtual
The 49er Festival in Groveland is Saturday and will be 100 percent virtual this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizers said Thursday in phone interviews.
The annual event is often billed as the biggest of the year in this town that caters to tourists and weekend visitors for much of its business, and the Yosemite Highway 120 Chamber of Commerce urges people to take part in the first-ever virtual edition.
There will be a virtual parade, including video clips from past 49er Festival parades, virtual gunfight skits that have been pre-recorded, and virtual contests for the best beards, best costumes, best woodcarving, best art entries, and the Honorary Mayor of Groveland election, in which candidates have solicited bribes to share with 49er Festival organizer Tom Clawson.
Each candidate gets a kickback, a percentage of the bribes they solicit, which they can share with the nonprofit of their choice.
One of the contestants for Honorary Mayor of Groveland this year is a dog, Scutaro, owned by Bob Steinkamp, president of the Groveland Dog Park Association.
Scutaro is named after a former San Francisco Giants pitcher, Marcus Scutaro of Venezuela.
There will also be a virtual Chili Charlie’s Cooking Corner to evoke previous 49er Festival chili and salsa cookoffs.
While the 49er Festival will be virtual and online only, businesses in downtown Groveland will be open and in compliance with local and state pandemic guidelines, said Earl Wright, chairman of the festival committee, and owner of the Pizza Factory and Hungry Bear Cafe.
“We decided to go virtual this year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the local and state guidelines on social distancing
and masking,” Clawson said Thursday. “Having thousands of people in Mary Laveroni Park just wouldn’t be practical given the health restrictions. We felt the community needs a diversion, especially right now, due to the pandemic and the wildfires and the smoke.”
Organizers with the Highway 120 Chamber of Commerce and the town’s residents refused to not do a 49er Festival this year, Wright said. Everyone wants to have something as fun as possible and to have fun while they figured out how to do it together.
People discussed having a drive-through chili contest, but that proved a daunting challenge because festival chili and salsa contestants normally have to be based out of the Groveland Community Hall kitchen to meet local code, but that kitchen is closed right now, Clawson said.
Sponsors for this year’s Virtual 49er Festival include Chicken Ranch Casino, Accounting Plus, Carron Tax, Don Pedro Dry
Storage, Evergreen Lodge, Rush Creek Lodge, Gold Country Home Inspections, The Pizza Factory, Yosemite Adventure Supplies, and Soul be Good Residential Services. There are 35 other businesses that have contributed raffle prizes.
The first-ever Virtual 49er Festival will also be on the Groveland 49er Festival Youtube channel at www.youtube.com/channel/uch7h53yep6mry7age6x-x0a. The event is scheduled to be up and running at 10 a.m. Saturday.