Warbirds flyby to highlight 68th annual Pinedorado

Excitement is building, because here comes the Cambria Lions Club’s 68th annual Pinedorado celebration Saturday through Monday, Sept. 3 through Sept. 5. This year’s theme is “Celebrate the Past; Serve the Future,” in part because this is Cambria’s sesquicentennial — 150th anniversary.

The 2016 Pinedorado was to be held mostly within a special area adjacent to the Veterans Memorial Building, 1000 Main St.

The festival features an interactive dinner theater Follies show at 6:30 p.m. Thursday through Sunday (sold out), 10th annual car show from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, much-lauded barbecue and other food (oh, that corn on the cob!), Zoo to You at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, games and rides for kids, free music and other entertainment (especially on Music Monday, when the band Rumble is to play, and the Motion Academy of Dance is to perform at 11 a.m.).

And, of course, there’s the big parade Saturday that launches the three-days of socializing, reunions, fun, food and festivity.

There’s also the 25th annual AFS Pinedorado 5K Fun Run that starts at 7 a.m. at Coast Union High School, 2850 Santa Rosa Creek Road, the Joslyn Center’s yearly Pinedorado waffle breakfast from 7 to 10 a.m. Saturday, and bingo all three days at the Joslyn Center, 950 Main St.

Parade

More than 70 entries are expected to be in the merry procession that starts at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at the Main and Bridge streets intersection, and then wends its way along Main to the veterans hall/Pinedorado Grounds area (where the judges are) and beyond.

Judges this year include Stephen Gryte, Stephen Provost, Samaire Provost, Mary Middleton and Follies writer/producer/director Peggy Christianson.

Parade highlights are to include four marching bands, a Special Olympics float, a Pinedorado Royal Court of past queens and princesses, and (if firefighting efforts allow) several contingents of firefighters who are sure to get a heartfelt, enthusiastic North Coast welcome.

However, parade Chairwoman Lani Zaragoza expects the showstopper will be a flyby by the Estrella Warbirds, sponsored by American Legion Post No. 432.

She said the planes are to fly above Main Street and arrive at the Veterans Memorial Building about the same time the U.S. Marine Corps League Detachment 680 Color Guard does. Zaragoza said the planes are then to “turn around over the ocean and fly back down Main Street again.”

Car show

Sunday’s car show, Pinedorado’s 10th annual, has 170 entries this year, a record number, according to show Chairman Nate Fearonce. The show is free.

Vehicles include a “1912 Moon, owned by the same person providing the car for Grand Marshal Marj Sewell, which is a 1927 Lincoln,” Fearonce said. The Moon “is a crank start, and it was just shown at Pebble Beach. It’s priceless, worth well over $1 million.”

Those two antiques will be parked in front of the veterans’ hall, he said, serving as vehicular bookends for about 10 Porsche cars dated from 1956 to 2016. They’ll be judged this year in two categories, Fearonce said, “air cooled and water cooled.”

There’ll be 26 classes of vehicles and 11 special awards. There’ll also be a silent auction and the usual raffle.

Among the entertainments at the car show are the Rumble band and, from noon to 5 p.m., Mariachi Voces Tapatias and Dancing Horses.

Follies

Tickets are sold out for the unique dinner theater mystery that is Christianson’s 2016 baby.

“Based on ticket sales, Cambria seems to like the idea of dinner theater,” she wrote in an email interview. “The actors are having a lot of fun … I can’t wait to see how the audience reacts to the surprises.”

Losses

Amid all the festivities, Lions Club members and area residents are mourning the recent deaths of three prominent Lions — Bud Goff, Mike McLaughlin and John Tays — who, each in his own way, was a significant contributor to Pinedorado and other club efforts.

Goff and Tays were such avid, active Lions for so many years that significant Pinedorado buildings are named for the two men: the Bud Goff Food Court and John Tays Powerhouse Pub.

This story was originally published August 31, 2016 at 10:51 AM with the headline "Warbirds flyby to highlight 68th annual Pinedorado."