The real story, and history
of the Apricot Fiesta

From the Patterson Irrigator

By Ron Swift 

What came first, the apricots or the Fiesta? Well, the apricots were already here long before the first Fiesta, but they were almost an afterthought to the first Fiesta organizers.

The story begins in 1971, which was a busy one in the history of the community.

After the surge of aqueduct and freeway construction in the 1960s and the building of a number of new homes, Patterson’s economy had slumped. Then came the early 1970s. Business was rosy, farming was generally very profitable, and finding a home in the Patterson area to either buy or rent was nearly impossible.

The community had two business organizations in those days the Patterson-Westley Chamber of Commerce and the Patterson Business Association. The latter concentrated on promoting the downtown area.

In the spring of 1971, the business association’s board of directors decided to hold a weeklong series of fun events just before the Fourth of July. The goal was to get local residents downtown and have the service clubs, local churches and youth groups involved in staging the activities, which would help them financially.

The week would climax with a queen contest, maybe a bake-off for the women and a “whiskerino” contest for the men, with horseshoes and a community parade, too. Just a good old-fashioned, small town fun-and-games slate of activities.

Someone suggested a Western theme; complete with hats and boots for men and long dresses for women. Well, maybe it wasn’t the best idea for 100-degree-in-the-shade weather.

The directors divided themselves up, Jerry Musson taking over the parade planning and the late Al Gibbens the queen pageant. Another took the game booths, others worked on publicity, and the late businessman Hank Wong jumped in to chair a chicken barbecue, with its profits to go to the community football stadium project.

Oh yes, the stadium. In the same spring of 1971, a committee of Patterson High athletic supporters undertook the major project of moving the school’s gridiron, putting up all new  lighting and berms for the addition of expanded seating. (the old stadium was in the way of new a new building complex facing 9th Street.)

A number of farmers, as well as local service clubs, jumped into the stadium project and completed the dazzling new facility in time for the September gridiron schedule.

It required money — big money — and the community responded.

Wong’s barbecue was a part of that response. But the handful of business owners working on the downtown celebration realized they needed a more attractive theme than Western Daze.

Then came a suggestion from out of the blue: “Why not call it an Apricot Fiesta?” (“Not a festival;’ they began to harp. “Heck, every town has a festival?’)  The Chamber of Commerce agreed to decree that Patterson was the Apricot Capital of the World. And indeed it may have been at the time, with California growing 95 percent of the nation’s apricots and the United States leading the world in production of the delicate fruit.

And the Patterson-Westley area? Well, this area produced more than 40 percent of California’s total — so there!

At that point, Claude Delphia, who worked on the Patterson Irrigator staff, hand-designed the official Apricot Capital of the World emblem that is still in use today. It became visible on window posters, coloring contest forms and stationery for anyone who wanted it.

But with some three weeks to go, the Fiesta planning was running into problems. Despite many donations of time, effort and merchandise from local businesses, money was becoming an obstacle.

Then came forward local apricot growers Mate and Dorothy Candrlich with a donation of $1,000. Expenses would run more than $3,000, but the deficit would be worried about later.

Another problem was convincing the public that something big was going to happen downtown on the weekend of the Fourth of July.

The half-dozen or so people who worked on the project began meeting daily at 5 p.m. at the newspaper office, Each gave a progress report on the previous 24 hours, joint decisions were made when necessary, and they went their separate ways until late the next afternoon.

That’s the way the first Fiesta’s planning was done.

Despite plenty of weekly newspaper publicity, questions from the public were overwhelming~ So it was decided to draw up a list of some 150 to 200 Pattersonites who were very active in the community. They were sent one-page newsletters every several days, and they were asked to pass along the information to friends and neighbors.

It worked. The Thursday-through-Saturday events of that first Fiesta drew large crowds. After a large audience witnessed the Friday night Miss Apricot pageant in the downtown park, it was decided to convert the pageant stage into a float for the Saturday morning parade. Domingos Farinha Jr. organized a small group who worked most of the night doing the conversion, and the float delighted the parade watchers late the next morning.

 Fiesta Year 2 1972

Patterson’s second Apricot Fiesta ran into weather problems — all 108 degrees of them. Much of the crowd went home by mid-afternoon. Early on, the Fiesta incorporated. The original membership fee was $1 a year, and the organization quickly developed a membership base of more than 400. The member ship fee is now $5 for individuals and $10 for families,

 Fiesta Year 3 1973

After running in the red the first two years when it was held just before the Fourth of July, the Fiesta finally slipped over into the black in 1973 when it was moved ahead about four weeks, to the weekend following Memorial Day. That provided for cooler temperatures and more school participation.

The 1973 Fiesta had a couple of unusual highlights.

One was a trip to Sacramento for the Fiesta board to personally invite then Gov. Ronald Reagan to the Fiesta.  Reagan was presented a gift basket of apricot products, kept his Patterson guests in his office for 45 minutes rather than the five intended for the photo op, and graciously asked plenty of questions about apricots.

After all, the governor said he had one cot tree on his ranch in Southern California, and he. wanted to learn about his crop.

The other highlight was a guest appearance at the Fiesta of the Prince of Hunza, a young man. attending coliege in Southern California. He was truly & prince, and he was expected to succeed his father in the mountainous far eastern municipality or in mountainous Hunza. He may be doing so today.  And Hunza, you may have hoard, is where they grow and eat plenty of apricots — and where the age or many residents exceeds 100.

A couple of fund-raising ideas that would have greatly changed the family-oriented Fiesta were considered but quickly discarded. One was an advance-sales ticket booklet for individuals and families, allowing them entrance to a number of activities such as the queen pageant. The Fiesta has traditionally had ho admission charge.

The second was fencing the entire downtown area, then charging an admission fee to everyone. Instead, directors of the Fiesta initiated a craft fair, and got its revenues from rental of craft booths, fees from vendors and beverage sales.

So here in Patterson, the Apricot Fiesta continues its tradition of offering plenty of fun activities, food, entertainment and a family-friendly atmosphere that only a small town can generate.

This was written by Ron Swift, originally appeared in the May 2003 Patterson Irrigator.

An older version

      Over the years the Fiesta has grown from a one day celebration held in the city park to a month long series of events. The list of activities for Fiesta Weekend is increasing every year too. The enclosed schedule of events lists these activities.

    In 1986 the Craft Faire was established. It is held on the central downtown streets of Patterson. The number of craft vendors increases every year. Placed throughout the Fiesta area are food and beverage booths and bales of hay to provide seating for people attending the Fiesta.

     In 1987 The Fiesta was extended to the two day weekend format. This prompted the beginning of "Breakfast in the Park" held Sunday morning in the city park. Then along came the Firemen's Muster, the children's Petting Zoo and Bingo for adults. Then we added free entertainment on the "Circle", a student Art Contest, historical exhibits at the Patterson Historical Museum, the Lion's Club Bar-B-Q, a Hot Air Balloon Launch, a Horseshoe Tournament and an Arm Wrestling Contest.

     Patterson is a small community of 10,000 people in California's Central Valley, with many traditional values, and is known for its wonderful apricots. Patterson's central location and proximity to Interstate 5 (2 miles), makes it easily accessible from major population centers in northern and central California.

     Since Patterson is designed in a wagon wheel shape most of the Fiesta takes place on the "Circle", the hub of the wheel. Unlike other events of similar nature, there is no admission charge. During the Fiesta a wide range of apricot products will be available.

For more information see the contacts listed on the main Web page.