Sebastopol’s Apple Blossom Festival kicks off with parade

Graton firefighters perched atop a truck sprayed water over delighted children following from behind on Sebastopol’s Main Street Saturday morning during a parade kickoff for the town’s long-running Apple Blossom Festival.

Young women in gowns and tiaras waved from convertibles. A little girl in a bunny suit popped out of an oversized hat as a magician brandished a wand, both aboard a float created by the Sonoma West Medical Center. The float fit this year’s theme, “A Magical Time.”

The parade launched the festival’s 69th year and a weekend of activities at Ives Park and the Sebastopol Center for the Arts, including Sunday’s blues festival.

From a row of onlookers lining the sidewalk, Apple Blossom Elementary fifth grade pals Ethan Dierke, 10, and Bryant Strom, 11, bounded forward as a float approached featuring workers at the local Exchange Bank branch tossing Tootsie Rolls to the crowd.

“It’s all about just getting out there,” Ethan said about their candy-nabbing strategy.

The festival honors the town’s apple-growing history. Generations have lined Main Street each year to watch the school marching bands and costumed children and hear the town’s politicians shout congenial ribs to local business leaders perched atop the judges booth.

The festival continues Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Ives Park and Sebastopol Center for the Arts. Sunday’s events include a blues festival with headliner Curtis Slagado, a blues harmonica star and co-founder of the 1970s-era Robert Cray Band.

On Saturday, Sebastopol native son Dick McDonell, 82, sat in his VFW best in a chair along the parade route. The Korean War veteran said his great-great-grandfather Isaac Sullivan helped settle the Green Valley. McDonell said he looks for familiar floats like the lumbermen aboard green Sturgeon’s Mill tractors.

“I’m blessed to be born where I was born, who I was born to and the life I’ve lived here,” McDonell said.

The Hillcrest Middle School band marched by, playing a rendition of Pharrell Williams’ hit song “Happy.”

Sebastopol Police Chief Jeff Weaver walked alongside the floats and shook hands with people lining the street. A woman ran up to the chief and handed him a yellow flower for his lapel.

“This is my favorite day of the year. Today has gone wonderfully,” Weaver said.

Gray-haired men waved from cool old cars like Plymouth Barracuda convertibles and Chevrolet Chevelles. Buddhist monks in saffron robes with Whole Foods bags slung across their shoulders stood among the crowd of families.

City Councilman Robert Jacob, who runs several cannabis dispensaries, rushed past the onlookers on his way to get into his Mad Hatter’s costume for the Peace in Medicine of Sonoma County’s “Alice in Wonderland”-inspired float.

Ives Pool director Ricardo Freitas sat atop a makeshift judges perch and took notes about each float on a color-coded spreadsheet. Freitas declined to pick a favorite - yet - but noted that the Beep Boop Beep Robot Brigade was a creative addition.

A Sebastopol firetruck paused along the route and a crew of firefighters jumped out with Capt. Steve Thibodeau at the lead to hand a red rose to Jenifer Piccinini.

It was 21 years ago at this very parade that a young Jack Piccinini, now a seasoned battalion chief with Santa Rosa Fire Department, had convinced his fire service colleagues to unfurl a banner with a marriage proposal.

“Here it is, more than 20 years later, and all these firefighters jumped out of the rig again and handed me a rose,” Jenifer Piccinini said.

For more information, visit www.appleblossomfest.com.

You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.