May Fair Celebrates Americana, Quake Recovery

Margaret McKendry Rainey recalls a Fillmore May festival 61 years ago almost as clearly as her latest trip to the grocery store.

“I can remember being in the parade when I was 8,” Rainey said, relaxing Saturday at her hometown’s biggest annual event, the Early California Days Festival. Or simply the May Fair, as many in Fillmore--population 12,000--call it.

“I was in a buggy, dressed up as an old lady,” Rainey, now 69, said with a proud smile. “I had white powder on my hair, and I sang--oh, what was that song?”

She hummed a few bars.

“ ‘Put On Your Old Gray Bonnet,’ ” she said triumphantly.

It’s a big deal, being in the fair’s annual parade, getting to wave and grin from the middle of the street to your admiring friends and family crowded on the sidewalk. Many Fillmore residents march or ride in the parade at least once, and most remember each time.

Year after year, nearly everybody who lives in Fillmore, or who once lived in Fillmore, or who is just particularly fond of the quaint town nestled in the citrus groves, lands on Central Avenue the third weekend in May. They cheer on an old-fashioned parade, feast on slow-cooked barbecued beef and beans, ride the old-time train and pitch baseballs into straw baskets for stuffed animals at the carnival.

Staged in the city since 1910, the fair on Saturday was part quake-recovery celebration, part vintage Americana, as residents spoke of getting their town “back on track” amid a scene that looked like a stage set out of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Carousel.”

A block from the boarded-up storefronts and crumbling facades of quake-ravaged downtown, parade-goers weathered an unforgiving sun to clap enthusiastically for Miss Fillmore 1994, Liliana Morales, perched atop an electric blue Mustang in a sparkling green gown; Miss Teen Fillmore, Kelly Wilson, enveloped in a froth of pink lace and white tulle; Fillmore Fair Queen Leslie Mozley; Young Miss Fillmore Stephanie Cardona and about half a dozen other queens and princesses, down to Miss Baby Fillmore, all waving, all smiling.

The junior karate classes showed off their wood-plank-splitting skills. The school bands marched, and the flag girls twirled their flags, mostly at the same time. The “Domino Dudes,” a favorite children’s parade tradition in Fillmore, succeeded as they have in years before at standing on their knees in the middle of the road, then falling to the ground one after another, like a stack of dominoes.

“We practiced for three weeks,” said Rebecca Hernandez, 11, clad in the Dudes uniform of black pants and a black sweat shirt with white dots. “I was nervous, because sometimes I fall before the others.”

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Lifelong Fillmore residents Paula and Victor Garibay brought their two toddlers down to Sespe Avenue to watch the parade go by. Later, they planned to go to the carnival down the street.

“The fair’s the only thing going on in Fillmore,” said Victor Garibay, 26, who marched with his soccer team in the parade when he was 12. “We took the kids to the carnival last night also, and they loved it.”

Sandra Avila, who marched with the drill team when she was in high school, said two of her five children were thrilled to march with their tee-ball team this year.

“I don’t know why, but this year the fair seems to be better than ever,” she said. “It’s a good thing for Fillmore, because you don’t worry about what happened (with the earthquake), you just have a good time.”

Promoters billed the fair--which began Thursday and runs through today--as a chance for Fillmore residents to celebrate their resiliency in the face of the January quake. Fillmore Mayor Linda Brewster, in the spirit of rebuilding the town, came dressed up as a house painter.

“The City Council is working to rebuild Fillmore, so we’re all dressed as workmen,” she explained, standing alongside the downtown park’s gazebo and balancing a plate of barbecued meat and beans in her hand. “The town’s looking a lot better than it used to, don’t you think? It’s looking decent, anyway.”

Laboring to make Fillmore look better than decent, about 20 volunteers eschewed the fair Saturday to build a makeshift restroom and kitchen facility in the parking lot of a local Catholic church. The temporary facilities will be used by volunteers for Habitat for Humanity and other nationwide organizations, who plan to move into Fillmore for the next year or so to help rebuild the quake-damaged houses of residents who can’t afford to pay a contractor.

The volunteers will live in trailers parked near the temporary facilities, which will be ready for use by June 1.

“We say these are holidays with a purpose,” said volunteer Jeanette Brouwer, who traveled to Fillmore from her home in Alberta, Canada, after a church-aid group called and said the town needed help.

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Nicolas Witoski can help anyone looking for quake damage in Fillmore. Three years old and fascinated by earthquake debris, Nicolas pointed out rubble as he rode with his grandmother on an old-fashioned train that traveled four times Saturday from Fillmore to a canyon just west of Piru, and back again to Fillmore. The train was a special, weekend-only feature of the Fillmore festival.

“Lookit, lookit those tractors packing things up there, because there’s a lot of earthquake damage,” Nicolas demanded, pointing out the train window at a tractor parked amid the orange trees.

Rocking and rumbling, traveling at 10 m.p.h. through farm fields while vendors sold gleeful children soda pop and Gummi Bears, the Hollywood Movie Train was a hit with old and young.

“I like the nostalgia,” said Ventura resident Valerie Byhoffer, ensconced with daughter Brandy, 3, in a velour-cushioned compartment. “When I watch the old movies on cable now, I can really relate to what (those train rides) are like.”

Palmdale resident Charles Holliday said he was disappointed that the train was not steam-powered. Still, he said, he was having fun at the festival, although his children and grandchildren dragged him there.

He always enjoys going to Fillmore, he added.

“I like it,” he said with a shrug. “It’s a small town.”

FYI

The Early California Days Festival will continue today in Fillmore, with hot air balloons from dawn until midmorning and the carnival from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the intersection of Mountain View and Santa Clara streets. The train will run four times, leaving on its first hourlong round trip at 10:40 a.m. The hot air balloon rides cost $75 per person, the train rides cost $12.50 for adults and $7.50 for children, and admission to the carnival is free.