The Fallbrook Avocado Festival

Once again what a busy weekend this has turned out to be.  My Saturday started out with my Daughter competing at a Pageant.  She won best hair, 3rd alternate for back cover, and overall tiny queen for Desert Pageants.  This is a great system that I discovered as a judge back in 2004.  All of the desert queens have a chance to participate in community service and other activities to stay involved and give back to their communities.  They have been around for 14 years but unfortunately after being diagnosed with a rare eye disease (Macular Telangiectasia), the director Stephanie Gregory is retiring from pageantry.  I know so many young ladies out there are going to be saddened to see the pageant come to an end.  The director Ms Stephanie runs a true natural pageant where everyone walks away a winner.  She doesn't believe in only crowning one girl who is the prettiest, has the most expensive dress, or the best hair/make-up/flippers, she believes in giving as many crowns to as many deserving young ladies as possible.  In my daughter's division alone all 5 of the kids walked away with a crown and a tittle with my daughter winning the overall crown.  So many girls in the high desert area have grown up and become role models in this pageant system which has instilled so many values in these young ladies that they may not have gotten anywhere else except from participating in activity such as a pageant.  So a big THANK YOU for everything Ms Stephanie and know that you will truly be missed by so many!

After a busy Saturday morning my next stop was the Orange Muffin Festival in the city of Redlands.  This event is a fundraiser for Plymouth Village, a continuing care retirement community.  Over 12,000 muffins were made and sold this day (wow) and they were completely out by the time I arrived at noon.  This event has continued to grow over the years from its first go round selling only 575 muffins.  So I guess I will have to wait to try again next year for some delicious orange muffins :(

After attending a few more family events this weekend it was time to make the drive down towards San Diego to go to the city of Fallbrooks 25th Annual Avocado Festival.  Of course the very first thing I spot when I arrived to the festival was ... not avocado's but the Miss Fallbrook Pageant Queens of course.  So after stopping to pose for a picture with the girls wearing the only green shirt I own in honor of the avocados in the blistering heat, I was off to explore what this event had to offer.  I expected to be completely overwhelmed with a feast of avocado based foods but I was surprised to see only a few selections.  There were tons of booths that you see at your typical fairs and festivals including various restaurants, artists, community organizations and more.  There was also a kids zone complete with rides, a bounce house and plenty of stages for entertainment including the Little Miss and Mr Avocado Pageant.  One aspect of the festival I must applaud the organizers for was including several booths for organizations signing up attendees to become registered voters.  So many US Citizens fail to become involved in the political process by doing something as simple as voting but they continue to complain about the state of the economy, health care, and more.  So bravo to the citizens of Fallbrook for working hard to make their voices heard!