Holy Cow! Former Dairy City Enters 45th Year

Residents can celebrate 44 years of city history Saturday by running in a 10K, sampling entries in a chili cook-off or competing in a doughnut-eating contest at the 19th annual Cypress Community Festival at Oak Knoll Park on Orange Avenue.

The festival will celebrate the city’s incorporation in July 1956 under the name Dairy City, when it had 1,616 people and 24,000 cows.

Festivities will begin at 7 a.m. with a pancake breakfast courtesy of the local Kiwanis Club.

A 5K/10K run and a two-mile stroll will start at 7:30 a.m. near Orange Avenue and Grindlay Street. Participants can register in front of City Hall on Orange Avenue before the event. A turnout of 1,400 runners and walkers is expected. Fees are $17 for the run and $10 for the stroll.

Proceeds from the run will go to academic and athletic scholarships for students at Cypress High School and the Cypress Children’s Advocacy Council, which sponsors free dental and eye care for needy children.

The festival will open at 9 a.m. and feature live country music, children’s games and entertainment throughout the day until the gates close at 5 p.m.

Highlights of the day include a car show at 10 a.m.; a doughnut-eating contest at 11:30 a.m. and a chili cook-off at noon. Performers from Medieval Times in Buena Park will joust and battle one another at the south end of the park, also at noon.

At 1 p.m., the chili cook-off will be judged by local leaders, including Orange County Supervisor Jim Silva, City Manager Patrick P. Importuna and City Councilman Tim Keenan.

For those who miss the doughnut-eating contest, a root beer chug will begin at 2:30 p.m. Information: (714) 229-6780.

Alex Katz can be reached at (714) 966-5977.