It’s a Small World : Food, Fun and Babies Reign at International Festival

It was a perfect day to lie out in the sun and check out the babies.

With a warm sun shining on Buckingham Park, plenty of food and cold drinks, Orange County residents sat back and relaxed Saturday at the Westminster International Festival as they watched “cute baby” contestants parade before the judges.

It was a slice of American life that has become increasingly multicultural in Orange County. And festival organizers hoped that people would take the opportunity at the three-day event, which ends today, to have a taste of ethnic diversity.

“This is a city that has so many diverse cultures,” said Debbie Ellis, president of the Westminster Chamber of Commerce, which is sponsoring the festival. “Forty-two different languages or dialects are spoken in most of our grade schools. We need to get people to understand the changes. Try something you don’t eat at home, but maybe your child’s friend eats it and your child tries it all the time.”

One could begin at the Greek food booth sponsored by Uncle Pete’s Cafe, where a blend of lamb and beef cooked slowly on a rotisserie for gyro sandwiches.

“I wish I could go out there (among the crowd) and give them a little taste, and I know they would like it,” owner Tom Pappas said as one of his helpers sold a hot dog to a young boy.

At a booth selling carne asada tacos, Martin Gomez, 29, boasted that his food item was not the run-of-the-mill taco because it was served with a sauce concocted by his father, who earns his living making and selling tacos in Guadalajara.

“It’s the best in the West, my sauce,” Gomez exclaimed of the spicy mixture that includes tomatoes, jalapenos, cilantro, garlic, oregano and cumin.

Italian sausages, Vietnamese egg rolls and other Asian food could be found among the cream puffs, pizzas and popcorn offered to festival-goers.

Although some of the food and novelty booths were sponsored by businesses, nonprofit groups were also invited to participate in the festival and keep the money they raised for their own organizations, Ellis said.

Wearing an embroidered African dress and a Swahili kufi on her head, Pasadena nurse’s aide Lilian Ikeme said she is attempting to get her fledgling ethnic clothing business off the ground by increasing the public’s awareness and selling her products at festivals.

“You can go to a festival every weekend if you want,” she said. “People are fascinated by all this stuff that I have because they see it as unique and very different.”

Two Westminster buddies found they were more fascinated with Gravitron, a dizzying carnival ride among the many set up for the festival.

“It goes around and around in circles. It’s a neat ride,” Chad Bowen, 12, said.

“Then the floor drops, and it feels weird,” added his friend, Jimmy Delgado, 11. “And when you get off you go, ugh ,” Delgado said as he rolled his eyes and made his legs wobbly.

Other entertainment included Freddy the Firetruck, a music-making, water-squirting, talking robot purchased by the Westminster Firefighters Assn. with donations from the community and used as an educational tool.

Singers, folkloric dancers, television stars and a men’s legs contest were among the featured attractions on the main stage Saturday.

But an early crowd pleaser was the “cute baby” contest that drew 20 entries, including 11-day-old Liliana Marquez.

“I wanted to put my son (1 1/2-year-old Johnny) in it, and I think she’s cute,” said their mother, Laura Marquez. And then turning her eyes to her newborn baby, she said, “We’re not going to stop, huh? We are going to keep you in all of them.”

Carissa Hannon, the 11-month-old daughter of Grace Hannon, had never entered a contest. But her smile, poise and wave to the judges apparently was enough to let her take home the trophy for “best personality.”

The baby judged to be the cutest was an old pro--16-month-old Jocelyn Marie Deno, a curly blonde with blue eyes who had previously won a similar contest and placed first runner-up in another. She was scheduled to compete again today in Buena Park.

Having had two boys before her daughter was born, Deby Deno said she enters her daughter in the contest because they are fun. But the competition will end, she said, if mother and daughter become too anxious about winning.

“If she gets to the point when that has to happen, it’s over and done with,” Deno said. “That takes all the fun out of it.”