Sebastopol celebrates rite of spring with Apple Blossom Festival and Parade

(Editor's note: This story originally incorrectly described a truck in the Apple Blossom Parade advertising a medical marijuana dispensary. The truck was decorated with fake apple blossoms, not fake pot leaves. It has been corrected below.)

Marching bands and water-spewing floats are one thing. Stuffing your pockets with free candy is another.

Duncan Reed, 10, came prepared Saturday to Sebastopol's Apple Blossom Festival and Parade, grabbing a spot on the curb and wielding a lacrosse stick to catch flying treats.

As the first entries rolled down Main Street, he was there, reaching out ahead of the crowd to snag a box of Dots thrown from the back of a silver convertible by police Chief Jeff Weaver.

“I thought it would be a cool idea,” said the fifth grader Apple Blossom School, which, like the parade, honors the town's once-thriving fruit industry. “I figured I could be lazy and sit back, enjoy the parade, and I wouldn't have to work.”

Thousands turned out under sunny skies for the 70th annual procession. The accompanying festival, including a carnival and art show, continues Sunday in Ives Park.

Spectators lined both sides of the street, many placing chairs in the best locations the night before. Jason Almirol, who attended with his son Dylon, 9, and other family members, said staked out his spot on the shady side in anticipation of warm temperatures, which peaked at 81 degrees in Sebastopol.

“People are pretty respectful,” said Almirol, a solar business manager. “They didn't move them.”

He and friends stood back as their kids watched marching bands, old cars and vintage farm equipment roll by. They were followed by packs of long-necked llamas and a group of short-legged dachshunds. The wiener dogs' handlers chanted “We will dach you,” in a twist on a classic rock song.

Candidates running for local office waved from convertibles while firefighters in red engines blared horns.

When a brace of Sebastopol police officers on Harley-Davidson motorcycles roared by, a bystander recognized one the them, making for another type of small-town moment.

“It was that guy,” the woman told a friend, pointing a finger. “He gave me a ticket.”

Analy High School snare drummer Tyler Nielson, 16, marched in a flurry of blue and white uniforms. He wiped sweat from his face after completing the quarter-mile route.

“It's a good thing I've got water,” he said, taking a break on a sidewalk.

Kids shrieked as people aboard a plumbing company float from tossed buckets of water at them. Just ahead, a man on an old apple sprayer fired more water at them.

“Dad, I got all wet!” a girl said with a smile.

Leo McKenna of Kenwood, who was there to see his granddaughter play in the Twin Hills Middle School band, took it all in. He called the parade “small-town at its best.”

Then McKenna, a retired school administrator, looked up to see a big green truck rolling by in the parade with a medical marijuana dispensary sign emblazoned on the back. The truck was decorated in fake apple blossoms.

“You won't see that in the Rose Parade, I can tell you that,” McKenna said.

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ppayne.