Thousands descend on Petaluma for Butter and Egg Days

Vito Michelucci grabbed a big orange cow chip Saturday and flung it with all his might.

The dried, flattened and painted poop sailed across Petaluma’s Washington Square, narrowly missing a man in a wheelchair about 20 yards away.

The union electrician’s shot-put technique proved to be a winner as he was declared champion of the annual Butter and Egg Days cow chip throwing contest.

“My first throw went pretty well,” Michelucci, a lifelong Petaluma resident, said as he basked in chip-tossing glory. “That last one kind of slipped a little bit.”

He was among thousands to converge on the picturesque downtown for the community’s signature festival honoring its agricultural heritage. Under mostly sunny skies, they crowded onto sidewalks and cordoned-off streets, cooing over cute little kids dressed as chicks and watching a traditional small-town parade featuring marching bands, beauty queens and hot-rod-driving politicians.

Some said the turnout may have been smaller than the expected 30,000 people because of the threat of daytime showers, which never materialized.

“I wore my flannel shirt but didn’t need it,” said Luke Frymyer of Petaluma, who watched the parade on Kentucky Street with a group of friends.

In fact, temperatures rose as the day wore on, reaching into the upper 60s. People flocked to the beer garden on Western Avenue, sipping cold craft brews and white wine.

“I love it because the whole community comes together and everyone is out,” said Sarah Marcia, a Petaluma teacher, drinking from a glass of pale yellow suds. “You can walk around and just mingle.”

Among the most popular events were the cow chip throwing and Cutest Little Chick contests. The latter - a nod to Petaluma’s former poultry capital status - featured costumed kids up to 6 years old dressed mostly as baby chickens.

Among them was 2-year-old Isabella Barbato of Rohnert Park, who flapped her arms and made chicken noises as she hopped around on Kentucky Street.

“Bock, bock, bock,” she said after marching offstage in a denim dress rimmed by yellow feathers and red-dotted sunglasses.

Her mother, Stacie Barbato, said she tried to get her daughter to blow her a kiss from the stage but she would only wave.

“Apparently, I should have told her to ‘bock,’?” Stacie Barbato said.

The contest winner was another 2-year-old, Mairead Cumiskey of Novato, who sported more chicken feathers and a chicken hat and wielded a green rake.

Her mother, Jessica Cumiskey, said she sewed Mairead a special dress with foam chicken feet.

“She was so excited to get her feet on,” her mother said.

Meanwhile, two blocks away, grown men and a handful of kids slung cow patties for distance with an enthusiastic crowd egging them on. Contestants compared techniques and discussed the importance of choosing the right cow chip from a table of pies.

“I chose one with no discernible fissures in it,” said Petaluma resident and county Supervisor David Rabbitt, one of several “celebrity” players.

Another contestant, Houston Porter, also of Petaluma, said the secret was tossing it correctly. He flung a flat, purple-painted patty in a Frisbee style, eliciting a “nice distance” comment from the announcer.

“They are much lighter and fluffier than they are out in a field,” Porter said as he rubbed on a dab of hand sanitizer.

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