City Wonders If It Can Swallow the Chaos

For most of the world, Swallows Day is when the small birds, migrating from thousands of miles away, are supposed to flock to their old nesting places on the grounds of Mission San Juan Capistrano.

But March 19, a day made famous by the 1939 song, “When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano,” conjures up a much different image to those who work and live in this historic city.

“You can put it in one word: mayhem. Maybe chaos,” said Alisa Whelchel, a local waitress who will undoubtedly run miles on Monday as she tries to keep up with the throng of hungry tourists who make the yearly pilgrimage to catch a glimpse of the sometimes-elusive bird.

“By 5 (a.m.), the streets will be totally packed,” Whelchel said last week as she peered out a window at the Ortega Highway diner where she works, across the street from the 214-year-old mission, proudly called the “Jewel of the California Missions.”

The crowds come from as far away as Europe and Asia to witness the yearly return of the swallows on St. Joseph’s Day. The curious can reach into the thousands and will begin to fill the narrow streets of the historic downtown business district by 4:30 a.m. Monday.

For some locals, the day is one of reverence, a time to celebrate St. Joseph, father of Jesus and patron saint of Italy. But for others, the day is spent celebrating in more boisterous ways.

“Isn’t Swallows Day the day after St. Patrick’s Day?” longtime local Mike Rosenberger asked jokingly. “No, I guess there is a day in between, but you’re recuperating, so you can’t move anyway.”

This year, Swallows Day will also be injected with controversy. The Juaneno Indians, the area’s only native tribe, plans a protest at the mission Monday to call attention to a dispute over a former mission employee, who is a Juaneno. Floyd Nieblas, a 40-year employee, left his position 18 months before his scheduled retirement. Mission spokesmen say he left voluntarily, but the Juanenos say he was fired.

The week of traditional festivities that surrounds the arrival of the swallows will end with a parade Saturday down Camino Capistrano. With that, the reveling peaks, said Ruth Ann Winkler, a bartender at the colorful Swallows Inn.

“It’s disgusting,” Winkler said.

The bar named for the small innocuous bird is usually packed the entire week that includes Swallows Day, as the city continues celebrating Fiesta de las Golondrinas (the Festival of the Swallows).

Some old-timers, such as veteran City Councilman Lawrence F. Buchheim, are more forgiving of the hoopla that surrounds the swallows’ return.

“The swallows and Swallows Day are a phenomenon,” said Buchheim, who has spent the better part of his 63 years in San Juan Capistrano. “So is the mission. I’m not a member of the parish there, but I feel it’s in my blood. It’s the same for a lot of us in this community.

“We have deep respect for the swallows,” Buchheim said, adding with a quip, “If we didn’t, we’d get our tails whipped.”

For the merchants who depend on tourists, the week is pure windfall. “We’re open every day except Christmas and New Year’s, but Swallows Day is a unique day in this town,” said Mike Darnold, president of the San Juan Capistrano Downtown Merchants Assn. and owner of El Peon, a cavernous gift shop across from the Mission.

“My wife and I and my grandparents all used to come down here to help out” on Swallows Day, said Darnold, who will open his converted garage at 6 a.m. Monday to accommodate the crush of tourists.

“When my children were here too, we used to have four generations of our family working together,” he said.

Even the otherwise-reverential mission has gotten into the hoopla with a contest in which participants will be asked to guess the correct time of the swallows’ arrival. The prize, incongruous as it may seem coming from the mission, is a weekend for two at any Marriott hotel in the United States.

Some locals, however, play down Swallows Day in deference to the religious overtones of March 19, a day when the Roman Catholic Church pays homage to St. Joseph.

“We are really celebrating St. Joseph’s Day,” insisted Suzann Benchetler, a docent at the mission. “Swallows Day is definitely secondary.”

Benchetler and other mission volunteers spent last week furiously preparing for St. Joseph’s Day at Mission Catholic School. Every St. Joseph’s Day, the school on the mission grounds presents a pageant, which is culminated by a re-enactment--albeit fanciful--of the coronation of the Spanish sovereigns, King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I.

Swallows Day festivities over the years have evolved from a local event into a monthlong Heritage Festival, which this year began on March 1. The events include historical society lectures, a charity golf tournament, 5K and 10K runs and a community fair.

On Friday, the La Presidente Ball at the downtown El Adobe De Capistrano Restaurant marked the start of La Fiesta de las Golondrinas, which will end with Saturday’s parade, billed as the world’s largest non-motorized parade.

Today the Ortega Equestrian Center will hold a free rodeo, where cowboys from the state will test their skills in roping, penning and branding cattle.

A local tradition will continue with Friday’s Hoosegow Day, when Fiesta Assn. Sheriff Tom Tate and his deputies will roam the town and arrest anyone without beards or not in Western dress. Offenders will be hauled away from their place of business and thrown into an iron jail cell, also known as a hoosegow.

To be released, cleanshaven miscreants must buy a “Smooth Puss” button. Women who neglect to dress the part will have to buy a fiesta garter and wear it through the rest of the day.

A posse of 40 deputies will assist the sheriff, and two jail cells will house perpetrators.

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO SWALLOWS WEEK EVENTS

Events schedule for Swallows Week in San Juan Capistrano

MONDAY: Hundreds of bird watchers are expected to gather in front of Mission San Juan Capistrano at 7 a.m., where they will try to catch the first glimpse of the returning swallows. Rafael Rene, son of the man who wrote the famous swallows song, will sing and Mission Catholic School children will put on a program honoring St. Joseph, the patron saint of the poor. Juaneno Indians are expected to protest against what they say is their diminished role at the 214-year-old mission.

TUESDAY: The San Juan Capistrano Chamber of Commerce will judge the best beard and mustache during a contest held at Swallow Inn.

WEDNESDAY: Awards given to the best western motif displayed in a store in the business district. Employees are also encouraged to wear western clothes and prizes will be given to the best-dressed cowboy.

THURSDAY: The Franciscan Plaza will be hosting this year’s hat contest in the Amtrak parking garage at night. Hat fans can win in a variety of categories--best mad hatter, best felt hat, best straw hat.

FRIDAY: Hoosegow Day, the most talked-about contest during Swallows Week. Chamber leaders will go from store to store in the downtown business district and check to see that everybody is bearded and wearing cowboy clothes. Failure to sport a hairy face will result in a lock-up in a 150-year-old Hoosegow. Bail for being beardless will be the purchase of a “Smooth Puss” pin. Bail for non-western wear will be purchase of a Fiesta Garter.

SATURDAY: 32nd Annual Fiesta De Las Golandrinas Parade. The 11 a.m. parade through the downtown business district will consist of Juaneno Indians, drill teams, flag routines, horse-drawn floats and marching bands.