Pinedorado Parade returns to Cambria — to the delight of heat-fleeing crowds
People turned out in droves to watch and cheer for Cambria’s traditional Pinedorado Parade on Saturday, in part for the returning tradition but also as an escape from the punishing heat wave in California’s inland areas.
With a projected high temperature of 110 degrees Fahrenheit in Paso Robles and triple-digit heat throughout the San Joaquin Valley and beyond, Cambria’s parade-time temp in the low 80s offered a welcome respite accented by bands, marchers, vintage cars, high school athletes, floats and more.
Early in the procession, three military planes flew up and back over the parade route.
Representatives from Estrella Warbirds Museum in Paso Robles said later the pilots were flying in the “missing man formation” in honor of their member and friend Sherman Smoot, a San Luis Obispo native who died after an engine malfunction and crash of the modified vintage plane in which he was practicing for the Reno Air Races.
While many of the Pinedorado attendees were from Valley areas, lots of San Luis Obispo County residents showed up, too.
Pinedorado had been on pause, parade and all, for the past couple of years, due to the pandemic.
Karissa Oterro of Lompoc was glad it was back. She said she and her family had attended the Pinedorado parade annually for decades, starting as a birthday celebration for her when she was a child.
“I’m 38 now,” she said, “and this time, I brought my daughter, who’s 6.”
First-timer Teresa Choi of San Luis Obispo, there with extended family and two dogs, said they’d loved the parade, “especially the Clydesdales” from the Covell Ranch in Cambria. “We’ll be back next year.”
New Cambria residents Patricia Flynn and Christine Galloway were bubbling over with enthusiasm for the Pinedorado welcome. “It was awesome,” Flynn said, “a perfect hometown parade.”
The women, who moved to town from the Los Angeles area, said they’d come up with a new slogan for their adopted hometown: “Cambria — Do You Believe in Magic?”
The 2022 procession drove, marched, rode and skipped along from one business-district end of Main Street to the other.
Many businesses were slammed before and after the parade, with lines stretching out the door at places offering hot coffee, cold drinks, breakfasts, sandwiches and sweets.
After the Lions Club’s restored and repainted calliope led the line-up through town, many watchers poured into the mid-village Pinedorado Grounds and the rest of the three-day carnival with barbecue, updated antique kiddie rides, games, food and other booths, a plant sale, lots of conviviality and more.
Various entries earned awards after the end of the parade, according to Greg Aitkens, parade chairman and president of the Lions Club.
They included Sweepstakes, Friends of the Fiscalini Ranch; parade theme, Cambria Garden Club; best youth entry, Cambria Skate Park; and judges’ special recognition, the many marchers from the Grizzly Academy.
Blue ribbon winners included antique auto group, Central Coast Classy Birds; antique auto solo, Cambria Historical Society; commercial float, Harmony Valley Creamery; and equestrian group, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office posse.
“The Wizard of CambriaOZ” follies show was set to conclude its rollicking six-night run on Sunday.
A big car show showcased all kind of antique, vintage and custom vehicles from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. It was set up around the Veterans Memorial Building, 1000 Main St., with quick access off Highway 1 via the one-block Cambria Drive.
Attendance was down a bit on Sunday, perhaps due to abnormally hot temperatures in the coastal community. The Weather Channel reported a high of 87, but temperatures were unofficially reported as being higher than that in various Cambria microclimates.
For details, go to www.pinedorado.com.
This story was originally published September 3, 2022 at 1:43 PM.
