Planners get head start to Almond Festival

March 26, 2004

While just last week I was talking about spring and attending the home and garden show that is being hosted by Oakley business owners Play Nation and Delta Barbecue and Patio at Play Nation in downtown Oakley this weekend, it seems fitting to talk this week about an event happening next fall -- the Oakley Almond Festival. It may seem early, but according to festival chairperson Carolyn Hays, "it's getting late."

Hays said that the reason for that is because planning for the hometown event takes the better part of a year to complete. "We want this year to be bigger and better than those before," Hays said.

The committee held its first official meeting of the year on Monday evening with the idea of adding new attractions to the event, which will be celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. Last month the group invited the public to come and help with planning this year's event, by offering suggestions on how to make it bigger and better. Hays said not many people came, but those that did had several good ideas that she hopes to put together over the next few months.

"The only problem is to add more activities means that we have to have more volunteers," Hays said.

This year she will be co-chairing the Chamber of Commerce-hosted event, with the Chamber's vice president, Keith Nance. Nance is the manager of Oakley Disposal. He has been very active in the festival organization for the past three years. He worked at being in charge of the festival rentals and helped with setup and takedown.

"Keith’s experience with the festival in the past will make him a perfect co-chair," Hays said. Hays herself has been the co-chairperson of the festival for the past three years.

Some of the ideas that were thrown around at this year's festival strategic planning session included adding more attractions for teens in middle and high school. Since the Oakley community has a very high ratio of young families, in the past the Chamber has worked hard to bring in activities for young children. The festival's Almondland area consisted of carnival games, like a gold fish bowl toss, pony rides and a booth where players could win a hermit crab.

That has been great for those who are in elementary school, but the committee has decided that the young community is growing up, as is evident from the overcrowding in our middle schools, so the group is looking for ideas of activities that will attract middle school-aged kids.

A few years back, the festival ran a very successful skate board park. It was well attended by the teens. This year's suggestions include a pass, punt and kick soccer contest and paint ball and water balloon areas.

"It's so hard to come up with ideas of what the kids in that age group would enjoy. We're still looking for ideas," Hays said.

While the kids are growing up there are still the younger ones who will continue to enjoy the activities for that age group, and Hays said the festival committee plans on keeping those. One of the most successful has been the Saturday Night at the Movies, where they have played an outdoor movie for the past two years. The committee plans to bring that back again this year.

While many of the volunteers from previous years are planning on returning, help is still needed, Hays said, as well as ideas. Anyone who is interested in getting involved is welcome to call Hays or Nance at 625-9710 or e-mail the festival at oakley@ecis.com.

Roni Gehlke's column on life in Oakley appears each week in the Brentwood News.

Distributed by the Contra Costa Times

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