Pinedorado weekend draws crowd, sets records

Cambria’s Pinedorado Grounds were packed all three days of the annual Labor Day festival, according to organizers, who said they considered the 2016 event to be a record breaker in many respects.

Cambria itself was crowded, too, as were many locations on the North Coast.

Greg Wilson has chaired the Cambria Lions Club’s carnival-barbecue-car show-music-and-Follies fest for four years. The still exhausted-but-elated chairman said Tuesday, Sept. 6, that “it was a great weekend for us, all three days. An absolute mob scene,” but a happy one.

He said he couldn’t remember all the records that were shattered by record attendance this year, from the number of hamburgers sold (936) to how many car show entrants there were (more than 170) to selling out of the barbecued top-sirloin and chicken dinners all three days.

“We sold a record amount of beer and wine,” he said, “and there was a record amount of game play” at the booths.

The Follies’ first interactive dinner theater was a hugely successful sellout, Wilson said, and “people are still talking” about the Sunday afternoon performances at the car show by the Mariachi Voces Tapatias and Dancing Horses.

Wilson said he was amazed and pleased by the participation by and attendance of area residents at the events.

Cambria’s Dancers by the Sea flash mob presented “Celebration” dances at the Lions Club’s Friday farmers market before the festival began, and later at the Pinedorado Grounds.

“Locals’ Day Monday” was also more successful than ever, Wilson said, with the Motion Academy of Dance show drawing rave reviews, as did music by Marcus DiMaggio and the Jill Knight Band, which packed the grounds with enthusiastic listeners and dancers all afternoon.

Even the grand raffle prize of $1,500 went to a longtime local, Kelly Johnson, who was at the grounds when her winning ticket was drawn.

Profits from the event go toward local charities, nonprofits and causes, as well as to Lions Club activities. Wilson said $12,000 would go very soon to the groups that ran various Pinedorado booths.

And according to past President Andy Zinn, the Lions’ budget for 2016-17 includes donations of “over $47,000 to the community, $30,000 to the schools and other groups in town and $17,000 in high school scholarships. Those who participate (in Pinedorado) have a hand in that.”

The club always is in recruiting mode, Wilson said, both for member and nonmember volunteers to help with Pinedorado and the many other community-oriented club activities.

Parade

Wilson’s enumeration of successes at the 2016 Pinedorado went on and on, including continuing buzz about the parade, especially “Dawn Dunlap’s Royal Court entry with the queens and princesses” who reigned over 11 previous Pinedorado festivals, from 1955 (Joyce Williams) to 1968 (Paige Brooks). “That had to be an absolute highlight of the parade,” Wilson said.

Dunlap’s Royal Court entry won the Special Recognition Award from a panel of five parade judges.

The shy young princesses-in-training on the “Princesses of Cambria” float drew a lot of “awwwwws” and applause from the crowd, as did the determined young cyclists in front of the Cambria Grammar School entry, youngsters in scarecrow costumes and assorted dancers.

More than 70 entries included everything from a Cal Poly racing Baja car and a couple of very small tractors, all dolled up for the event, to four bands, horses, antique and classic vehicles, and a number of floats. The Atascadero High School marching band won the coveted Sweepstakes Award for its parade performance.

Other top awards went to the Native Daughters of the Golden West (Parade Theme Award), and the Grizzly Youth Academy (Youth Award).

Quite a few people waved “thank you, firefighters” and “thank you, first responders” signs when entries for Cambria Fire Department, Cal Fire, the North Coast Ocean Rescue Team, Sheriff’s Posse and Cambria CERT (Community Emergency Rescue Team) paraded past. Several dozen of those signs were donated by calligraphic/graphic artist Don Ambriz.

Parade winners in individual categories were:

▪  Decorated Commercial Float: Linn’s.

▪  Decorated Noncommercial Float: Cambria Rotary (adult) and ArtBeat (youth).

▪  Equestrian: Sheriff’s Posse.

▪  Military Color Guard: American Legion Post 432.

▪  Nonmusical Drill Team-Junior: Grizzly Youth Academy.

▪  Marching Musical Union, other than band: Cambria Newcomers Club.

▪  Marching Band: Atascadero High School.

▪  Truck Band: Rough House (adult), Cambria Drum Corps (youth).

▪  Antique and Decorated Vehicle: Pacific Coast Wine Trail.

▪  Antique Auto Group: SLO Stangs.

▪  Antique Conveyance, other than car: Fiscalini Ranch Vehicle.

▪  Decorated Vehicle: Cambria Scarecrow Festival.

▪  Modified Vehicle: Cal Poly Racing Car.

▪  Special Novelty: Tehran Shriners (adult), Santa Lucia Middle School Leadership Class (youth).

According to veteran car show Chairman Nate Fearonce, among the many cars that won special awards at Pinedorado’s 10th annual show on Sunday, Sept. 4, were:

▪  Best of Show: John Peterson, Fresno, 1931 Ford Roadster.

▪  Best Paint: Mario Simoes, Tulare, 1968 C-10 Chevy pickup.

▪  Best Interior, Ed Gaio, Tulare, 1937 Chevy three-window coupe.

▪  Best Engine: Heath McMichael, Temecula, 1967 Chevy Camero.

▪  Long-distance Award: Bill Mann, Palm Desert (five-hour, 22-minute drive, according to GPS). 2016 customized Chevy Silverado.

▪  Club Participation Award: Central Coast Challenger Club.

▪  Chairman of the Show Award: Kevin Hensley, Thousand Oaks, 1953 Ford C-600 COE Cabover.

▪  President’s Award: Willy Thygesen, Clovis, 1964 Chevy pickup,

▪  Kids’ Choice Award: Mark and Sherri Castor, Patterson, 2013 Ford Boss 302.

▪  People’s Choice: Greg Hawkins, Cambria, 1960 VW “Toad” dune buggy.

Weather, planes and crowds

The weather also was a topic of conversation, from the chill, fog and clouds during the Pinedorado Parade to the sunshine and modest wind speeds for most of the rest of the event.

“It was one of the coldest parades I can remember,” said Mary Ann Carson, executive director of the Cambria Chamber of Commerce.

The gloppy overcast-foggy weather Saturday, Sept. 3, delayed for about 28 hours a flyover by vintage planes from the Estrella Warbirds Museum, which had been scheduled to fly in formation over the parade Saturday. Instead, two pilots flew the historic planes over the car show about 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 4. (American Legion Post No. 432 sponsored the flyover.)

It also was a good weekend for local businesses, Carson said.

“They are very happy. Everybody thought it was a better crowd than it had been for years. The motels on Moonstone (Beach Drive) were full for two days, and everybody had a great time.”

She said some of the visitors may have delayed their departures longer than usual so they could join the Monday festivities and enjoy the North Coast a little longer.

“I was driving up and down the road about 3:30 or 4 on Monday afternoon,” Carson said, “and there were still of lot of people exiting Cambria.”

And about that traffic/parking situation?

Cambrians who weren’t headed to Pinedorado said they often opted to avoid downtown altogether during the holiday weekend.

This story was originally published September 7, 2016 at 10:18 AM with the headline "Pinedorado weekend draws crowd, sets records."