San Juan Ready for Swallows and Tourists

These days, if anyone in this city has doubts about the legendary return of the city’s famous, feathery citizens, they just, um, swallow them.

Today is Swallows Day, the beginning of a raucous weekend of Old West-style celebration, when local residents generally have too much fun to care if the swallows really do come back to Capistrano.

“A few swallows sneak in, and if not, there’s always a lot of pigeons around,” said Helen Morton, event organizer. “But that doesn’t make much difference because we bring the community together and show out-of-towners what San Juan is like. It’s an experience you’ll never forget, whether you want to or not.”

Beginning this morning, when 97-year-old Mission San Juan Capistrano bell ringer Paul Arbiso sounds the bells to welcome home the migratory birds, the action will be nonstop.

Events this weekend include a rodeo, carnival, street fair, the country’s largest non-motorized parade and, of course, Hoosgow Day, where tourists, TV crews, babies and office workers are tossed into a makeshift jail by special “deputies.” They have to pay a $1 ransom to charity to get out.

Known as the Fiesta de las Golondrinas--celebration of the swallows--it is a weekend that residents work year-round to prepare for. It’s a weekend that has also made San Juan Capistrano internationally famous.

From a tiny radio station in Wyoming to a major network morning news show, they all are calling, says Brian McInerney, spokesman for the mission. He has given more than 60 media interviews in the past week.

“Tomorrow, this little town of 25,000 will be known throughout the world,” McInerney said. “It’s amazing.

“There are two things that define the personality of San Juan Capistrano,” he said. “The mission gives us historical perspective. This fiesta, the swallows, gives us something special that other towns just don’t have.”

Over the years, some of the activities have taken on a quirky nature, such as today’s Hoosgow Day event and Wednesday’s Hairiest Man competition. That’s a contest that actually begins in January for entrants, who must be cleanshaven on Jan. 15. They were judged Wednesday by a panel of five women, who selected winners in several facial hair categories.

The contest is really an excuse for revelry, as is much of the weekend, say longtime residents.

Much of what goes on reflects the city’s deeply rooted interest in its cowboy/ranchero heritage. The mission and the community date from 1776.

Swallows Day is St. Joseph’s Day on church calendars. And on Friday and Saturday, the mission will be honoring its 217-year past. On Saturday, a local theater group will perform scenes from the city’s history books. And American Indians will demonstrate crafts that have served the mission for hundreds of years.

Also on the stage at the mission will be Raphael Rene, singing a song written by his father, Leon Rene, that made the city famous: “When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano.”

But the marquee event is Saturday’s Fiesta de las Golondrinas Parade, which organizers bill as the largest non-motorized parade in the nation.

This translates to horses, more than 650 of them. Horses pull the floats and the stagecoaches, and serve as mounts for locals portraying such outlaws as the Hole in the Wall Gang, those legendary Old West desperadoes.

Bringing up the rear will be about a dozen volunteers with possibly the dirtiest job in parade history: cleaning up after the horses.

They will have plenty of work. With more than 200 entries, the 35th annual parade will be the largest ever, organizers say.

“We do try to keep that cowboy/horse influence in the parade,” said Anita Atkisson, Fiesta Assn. president. “It’s a lot of work, and we’re probably going to collapse on Sunday. But we’ll have a lot of fun until then.”

Times and locations for the weekend’s major events:

* The swallows will be officially welcomed home sometime between 7 and 9 a.m. today, depending on when the first swallow of the morning is spotted at Mission San Juan Capistrano, corner of Ortega Highway and Camino Capistrano. The birds do not actually all arrive precisely on March 19.

* A carnival featuring more than 20 adult rides, which began Thursday, will run through Sunday from 3 to 11 p.m. at Junipero Serra Road and Camino Capistrano.

* The Flying U Rodeo, a professional rodeo competition, will be held Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m., also at Junipero Serra and Camino Capistrano. Admission is $10.

* Starting at 11 a.m. Saturday, the Fiesta de las Golondrinas Parade will run mainly along Camino Capistrano in the downtown area.

* For the first time this year, a street fair called the Mercado will be held outside the mission on Ortega Highway, between El Camino Real and Camino Capistrano, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Local crafts, foods and country-Western music will be featured.