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Celebration Coincides With Rosh Hashanah : Jews Criticize Timing of Irvine Harvest Festival

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Times Staff Writer

Members of Orange County’s Jewish community and one state official, outraged over the Irvine Harvest Festival’s decision to hold its annual event on the same October weekend as the Jewish High Holy Days, have denounced the festival’s board of directors as “callous “and “insensitive” for refusing to change the date.

The festival, a three-day celebration with rides, music and exhibits which brought out 30,000 people last year, was set by the board for October 3-5, the same time the Jewish community will be celebrating Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. “Needless to say, the residents of Irvine were incensed that this callous and uncompromising attitude should be taken against the Jewish community,” wrote the Orange County regional office of the Anti-Defamation League in a letter sent two weeks ago to 50 civic leaders. A copy of the letter was obtained Monday by The Times.

“The effect of this action by the board of directors precludes any Jewish involvement or participation by the entire Jewish community, not just those who live in Irvine.”

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Irvine’s Jewish community is estimated to be 5,000, about 5% of the city’s 90,000 residents. In a separate letter sent to Irvine Mayor Dave Baker and the Irvine City Council last week, state Sen. Paul Carpenter (D-Cypress) charged that the Harvest Festival Board “displayed blatant prejudice and bigotry” in knowing that the dates conflicted with the Jewish holiday and refusing to reschedule the event.

He also urged city officials to disassociate themselves from “this anti-Semitic organization and rescind all city support or sponsorship of the Harvest Festival.” Irvine Mayor Dave Baker said Monday that he had not seen Carpenter’s letter. As it was read to him over the phone, he said, at intervals: “Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Oh my gosh.”

Baker, who served as the festival’s president five years ago and whose wife, Patty, currently sits on the board, added: “I don’t think that Sen. Carpenter is that well informed as to what’s happened. I’m sure if he was, he wouldn’t have made those comments. . . . It’s too early to do any name-calling or cast any aspersions.”

Asked whether the council would comply with Carpenter’s request, Baker added: “As far as I’m concerned it’s a decision for the Irvine Harvest Festival. . . . It’s been very hard on them. They are just trying to do something good for the community and they are not interested in offending anyone.”

This is not the first time a scheduling conflict has surfaced between the two groups. In 1984, the festival’s dates coincided with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and the holiest of Jewish holidays.

According to Festival Board President Doug Bodkin, when the conflict was brought to the board’s attention two years ago it was already too late to change the date, but the board gave assurances that the conflict would not happen again.

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“I should bear some of the burden,” Bodkin said Monday, who recalled giving Jewish leaders assurances about not holding the festival during Yom Kippur, which falls at the end of the Jewish New Year. But he said he did not realize the two holidays were part of the same 10-day holiday period.

“After they recently brought this up, I went to my pastor and asked him what to do,” Bodkin said. “He explained to me what Rosh Hashanah was, and from that I got a better picture.”

Will Take Up Issue

Although he and other board members refused to change this year’s date when they met with members of the Jewish community on March 20, Bodkin said he will take the issue up again Thursday night with his executive committee “because of all the flack.”

Steve Dunning, vice president of operations for the Irvine Harvest Festival, said: “We are just not set up to handle this. We are just a bunch of people who do this in our spare time because we love it.”

The Harvest Festival was first held in 1971, the same year that the City of Irvine was incorporated. The board’s 22 members, who serve on a volunteer basis, have traditionally chosen the first weekend in October for “financial and logistical” reasons.

Dunning explained that it was not possible to hold the festival the last two weeks in September because those dates conflict with the Los Angeles County Fair, which also provides amusement rides for the Harvest Festival. Also rejected was the third weekend of October because “the further away you get from September, the more likely it is you’ll be rained out,” Dunning said.

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Hinda Beral, Orange County’s area director for the American Jewish Committee, also expressed disappointment over the rift.

“Irvine has become a city with a diversity of people,” Beral said. “I would hope decisions will be made in the future to appreciate that diversity and not contribute to disharmony and discord in the community.”

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