PAINT THE TOWN RED

Garden Grove is one community where residents tend to wear the description old-fashioned as a badge of honor.

“We’re a Midwestern kind of city,” said Connie Margolin, who as president of the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival presides over a very big--and very old-fashioned--community-oriented event. “To us, it’s a city of volunteers and people who support their community.”

Even as the city’s strawberry fields have dwindled under the continuing onslaught of development, the Strawberry Festival has grown and prospered. It returns for its 35th year Friday through Monday.

More than 200,000 people are expected to attend the four-day festival, which includes such home-grown events as a celebrity parade, a carnival with rides and games, an amateur talent show, and contests such as the annual “Redhead Round-up,” “Berry Berry Beautiful Baby Pageant” and “Tiny Tot Royal Court Contest.”

And, of course, there’s the annual unveiling of what is billed as the world’s largest strawberry shortcake, which will serve 4,000 guests on opening night.

The constancy of the event is one thing that keeps people coming back, according to Margolin. “It’s so well-known, people know what they’re going to get,” she said. “We look to keep it a family event. We don’t allow rock bands and that kind of thing because that’s not the kind of crowd we’re looking for.”

Actually, rock music was a part of the festivities until 1971, when the festival was shortened and rock music was banned after the event was marred for several years running by violent clashes between youths and police. Since then, the festival has remained peaceful for the most part, although there was a small protest by gay rights activists in 1988 over a parade appearance by Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove).

This year’s parade, scheduled for Saturday at 10:30 a.m., will feature as grand marshals former Olympic gymnasts Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner. The 150-unit parade will be broadcast live on local cable TV as it winds through city streets.

That’s a far cry from 1958, when silent film star Francis X. Bushman led a meager line of antique cars through Garden Grove in the first parade. Others who have taken part in the event over the years include Jimmy Durante, Jayne Mansfield, Ben Vereen, Emma Samms and Sally Field.

In 1968, presidential hopeful Sen. Robert F. Kennedy made a campaign stop at the parade, two days before he was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. (“You should be glad to see me, because I have such a large family that we probably eat more strawberries than anyone in the world,” he told the crowd).

The festival has its roots in a more agrarian past, in the days when Garden Grove was known as the “Strawberry Capital of the World.” The city made its mark in the strawberry business by taking advantage of the warm climate, with an earlier planting and harvesting time than other producing areas.

As Garden Grove has grown from about 85,000 residents in 1958 to more than 140,000, the strawberry fields that once lined Katella Avenue and carpeted other parts of the city have dwindled to less than 80 acres. The city still celebrates the fruit, however, with its annual festival, which typically draws 200,000 or more visitors over the four days.

Looking over yellowed news clippings from the event, it becomes apparent how little things have changed. Miss Garden Grove riding in the celebrity parade on a giant strawberry, a strawberry shortcake big enough to feed thousands, the carnival, and the redhead contest are all longtime aspects of the festival.

The parade reached its current size of 150 marching units in 1968, when actress Jane Powell was grand marshal. That year also included a battle of the bands, featuring 24 “teen-age bands” from throughout the state.

The band competition was later dropped as the festival entered the most tumultuous part of its history, from 1969 to 1971, when young festival-goers and police clashed annually. Some of the melees involved more than 1,000 rock- and bottle-throwing youths and more than 150 law-enforcement officers.

After the 1971 festival, there were calls to end the event, but then-festival president and former mayor George Honold held firm: “We’re not going to back down to a bunch of wild animals,” he said at the time. “If we do that sort of thing, nobody will be able to walk the streets.”

The festival survived, but it was greatly curtailed in 1972. The next year, the festival was moved to Euclid Park amid plans to emphasize “cultural” attractions over the carnival atmosphere of years past. The rock music ban that was instituted then has remained, and the event has remained largely unchanged in the years since (musical performances this year include the Orange County Song and Dance Co. and the Childrens International Peace Choir).

One of the most enduring legacies of the festival is its charitable activities, with all profits (above operating expenses) going to benefit local causes. More than $1 million has been handed out over the years, including about $140,000 from last year’s festival. The money helped purchase additional equipment for the city fire and police departments, and also supported nine civic groups with grants ranging from $2,209 to $30,000.

Further, local groups raise funds directly by operating food and game booths at the festival.

The festival parade has been broadcast on commercial television in some years, but organizers decided this year that the money could be better spent elsewhere, Margolin said. The parade will be broadcast on the city’s community cable station, Channel 3, via Paragon Cable.

* What: 35th annual Garden Grove Strawberry Festival.

* When: Friday, May 28, 1 to 11:30 p.m.; Saturday, May 29, 10 a.m. to midnight; Sunday, May 30, noon to 11:30 p.m.; Monday, May 31, 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Parade on Saturday at 10:30 a.m.

* Where: Village Green, 12862 Euclid Ave., Garden Grove.

* Whereabouts: From the Garden Grove (22) Freeway, exit at Euclid Avenue and go north.

* Wherewithal: Admission is free; separate charges for rides, games and food.

* Where to call: (714) 638-0981.

A Fete Fit for a Berry

More than 200,000 people are expected to attend the 35th annual Garden Grove Strawberry Festival this weekend. Festivities kick off Friday with the traditional slicing of the “World’s Largest Strawberry Shortcake,” a concoction of 960 pints of fresh berries and 36 gallons of whipped cream that serves 4,000. * Strawberry Festival Hours

Friday: 1-11:30 p.m.

Saturday: 10 a.m.-midnight

Sunday: Noon-11:30 p.m.

Monday: 10 a.m.-8:30 p.m.

* Day-by-Day Highlights

All Strawberry Festival events will be held at the Festival Ampitheatre.

Friday

3 p.m.: Actor Billy Barty emcees Tiny Tot Royal Court Contest.

6 p.m.: Opening ceremony includes cutting of largest strawberry shortcake.

7:30 p.m.: Welcoming ceremony and celebrity stage show features Miss Garden Grove.

Saturday

10:30 a.m.: Parade Grand marshals are gymnasts Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner.

7:30 p.m.: Ninth annual amateur talent show.

Sunday

Noon: Berry Berry Beautiful Baby Pageant for tots 3 months to 3 years.

2:30 p.m.: Orange County Song and Dance Co. performs.

7:30 p.m.: Miss Garden Grove & Friends perform a Las Vegas revue.

Monday

Noon: Redhead Roundup Contest.

2:30 p.m.: Recital by Colony of Performing Arts.

4 p.m.: Dance Factory performance.

6 p.m.: Children’s International Peace Choir performs Memorial Day service.

* Harbinger of Summer

Tom Hoxie of Garden Grove organized the first Strawberry Festival in 1958 to promote Garden Grove and Orange County as the leading strawberry producing area in the nation. Although Garden Grove strawberry fields have dwindled to 78 acres, the festival has remained a harbinger of summer and a big fund-raiser, garnering more than $1 million over the years for various charities. * Did You Know?

Strawberries are members of the rose family and are not true berries because they don’t have seeds within their fleshy tissue. Other strawberry facts:

The name: First called strewberry because the fruit seemed strewn or scattered among the leaves.

Where from: Wild strawberries were grown in ancient Rome. The first important American variety, the Hovey, was grown in 1834 in Massachusetts.

How much: California produces about three-fourths of the nation’s strawberries.

What kinds: Varieties raised in the United States include the Tribute, Tristar, Earliglow, Honeoye, Kent and Chandler.

Nutritional value: Fruit is a good source of Vitamin C.

How to grow: Strawberries grow best in a cool, moist climate in many kinds of soil. Plant in fall or spring to get fruit in May or June to September or November. Most plants bear fruit up to six years, but the best crops grow during the first two years.

Diseases: Scientific advances have led to developing varieties of strawberries suited to specific climates and to ways to control major diseases and insects that attack the plant.

* O.C. Strawberry Production

Srawberries have consistently remained one of Orange County’s top crops. Even in years where weather affected production levels, strawberries have been a major contributor in the county’s agricultural economy.

Acreage Production (tons) Market value (millions) 1986 2,413 85,251 $64.4 1987 2,498 70,993 51.1 1988 2,336 65,735 43.4 1989 2,197 58,880 36.8 1990 1,536 49,920 34.7 1991 1,820 58,695 44.0

Sources: County of Orange; agricultural commissioner; Baker, Winokur, Ryder Public Relations; World Book Encyclopedia; Researched by CAROLINE LEMKE / Los Angeles Times