{"id":19639,"date":"2013-06-03T03:14:07","date_gmt":"2013-06-03T11:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sparselysageandtimely.com\/blog\/?p=19639"},"modified":"2023-12-17T14:44:10","modified_gmt":"2023-12-17T22:44:10","slug":"western-weekend-2013-good-weather-good-fun-close-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/?p=19639","title":{"rendered":"Western Weekend 2013: good weather, good fun; close call"},"content":{"rendered":"

Western Weekend, <\/strong>West Marin’s annual salute to its agricultural heritage, was held Saturday and Sunday in Point Reyes Station with a parade and 4-H animal competition.<\/p>\n

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Pete Tomasetti and his wife riding a 1941 Farmall Tractor followed by a 1938 Allis Chalmers tractor driven by Ben Wright together took first place in the parade’s Farm Vehicle category<\/em>. _____________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Point Reyes-Olema 4-H Club’s animal show in Toby’s Feed Barn Saturday. (Photo by Lynn Axelrod)<\/em><\/p>\n

Hugo Stedwell Hill<\/strong> of Inverness holds an American blue rabbit, which is a heritage breed.<\/p>\n

Dorothy Drady of Nicasio, who was watching over the exhibit, gave this account of the rabbit’s evolution:<\/p>\n

The American blue was originally bred in Pasadena in 1917 and became the most popular breed in the country because of demand for its fur and meat.<\/p>\n

By the 1970s and 80s, the breed was almost extinct. In the 1990s, the American Livestock Breed Conservancy placed the American blue rabbit on its “endangered” list. Nonetheless, there are now fewer than 500 worldwide.<\/p>\n

The animal show was smaller than in previous years<\/strong> because some 4-H members who usually take part will instead compete in the Tri-Valley 4-H Fair Sunday, June 9, from 9 a.m. to noon. It will be held at the Pomi Ranch on the Point Reyes-Petaluma Road near Union School.<\/p>\n

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4-H Club members taking part in the animal show included, front row from left: Ashley Winkelmann, Nicole Casartelli, Ellie Rose Jackson, Phoebe Blantz, Rachel Stevenson, Eva Taylor, Katie Stevenson. Onstage from left: Ruby Clarke, Willow Wallof, Brinlee Stevens, Nina von Raesfeld, Point Reyes-Olema 4-H Club president Audrey von Raesfeld (with clipboard), Olivia Blantz,\u00c2\u00a0 Camille Taylor, Caroline von Raesfeld, Marlowe Ural, Gabriel Ural, Stran Stevens, and Max Muncy. (Photo by Lynn Axelrod) <\/em>_____________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

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4-H member Olivia Blantz won a top poultry award for her Mille Fleurs type hen of the Belgian d’Uccle Bantam breed.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mille Fleurs, which is French for 1,000 flowers, refers to the many white spots of feathers.<\/em><\/p>\n

(Photo by Lynn Axelrod)
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Point Reyes Station’s main street was lined with almost 2,000 parade watchers by starting time at noon Sunday. For the hundreds of children on hand, it was a grand party. <\/em>_____________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

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Elise Haley Clark sang the National Anthem acapella just before the parade began. Despite her youth, she sang with poise and drew warm applause from the crowd. <\/em>_____________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

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The Marin County Sheriff’s Posse had one of three color guards in the parade, along with the Coast Guard and the National Park Service. ____________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

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A procession of county and Inverness fire engines followed the color guards at the start of Sunday’s parade. _____________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

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Western Weekend Queen Sara Tanner<\/strong>, 16, a sophomore at Tomales High, earned her crown by selling the most Western Weekend raffle tickets. ____________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

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Western Weekend Princess Camille Loring<\/strong> of Marshall, is a senior at Tomales High. She was the runnerup in ticket sales. _____________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

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The entry from “Return to the Forbidden Planet, Shakespeare’s Forgotten Rock ‘N Roll Musical,” took first place in the parade’s Adult Music category. Singer Phillip Percy Williams (standing with microphone) wowed the crowd with his cover of Gary Puckett and the Union Gap’s song “Young Girl.” The musical is scheduled from June 20 to 30 in Tamalpais High’s Caldwell Theater. _____________________________________________________________
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The Grand Marshal of Sunday’s Western Weekend Parade<\/strong> was Jim Patterson, who is retired after having been principal at different times of West Marin School and Tomales High. ____________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

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Papermill Creek Children’s Corner marched and rode down the parade route to publicize the preschool’s upcoming summer camp<\/em>. ___________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

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Main Street Moms, who each year have a political entry in the parade, this year called on California Governor Jerry Brown to join the fight against fracking. Fracking, which uses water under pressure to force petroleum and natural gas from underground rock formations, has been blamed for polluting groundwater. <\/em>_____________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

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The Nave Patrola, which spoofs the Italian army in World War I, as always was a hit of the Western Weekend Parade. This year the bumbling marchers took second place in the Adult Drill category. <\/em>_____________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

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Drakes Bay Oyster Farm, which is fighting a court battle to renew its permit to operate in the Point Reyes National Seashore, entered a large float that carried company workers followed by a band. As the National Academy of Sciences and others have shown, the Park Service has repeatedly faked scientific data in trying to make a case for evicting the more than 80-year-old company.<\/em><\/p>\n

A man at center in the foreground holds up “Want a Sign?” inviting parade watchers to join the entry and carry a “Save Our Drakes Bay Oyster Farm” sign. <\/em>_____________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

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(Photo by Lynn Axelrod)<\/em><\/p>\n

Having supported the oyster company’s cause<\/strong> for several years, I decided I ought to carry a sign.<\/p>\n

All went well as we marched semi-rhythmically down the main street to the beat of the band. When we reached the finish of the parade, however, I personally had a bit of excitement.<\/p>\n

I was handing my sign to someone sitting on the lowboy behind Lunny’s stopped truck when the truck slowly started up and one of the trailer’s wheels rolled onto the outside edge of my right shoe.<\/p>\n

Lowboys are designed to carry heavy equipment, so the weight was substantial. For a couple of moments, I couldn’t move my shoe, but although the wheel was pinching my foot, I didn’t feel any great pain. As it turned out, I had somehow managed to squeeze my toes to the other side of my shoe.<\/p>\n

The truck continued to slowly roll forward and soon freed my foot. Nancy Lunny, wife of oyster farm operator Kevin Lunny, saw what had happened and hurried over. “Are you all right?” she asked anxiously. In fact, I was exhilarated from having survived the close call unscathed and told her with a laugh, “I’m perfectly okay.” ____________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

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A the conclusion of the parade, the Marin County Farm Bureau put on a well-attended barbecue outside of Toby’s Feed Barn. The Doc Kraft Band (under the blue canopy at right) performed country rock ‘n roll music. <\/em><\/p>\n

Later that afternoon<\/strong> while thinking back to the parade, it occurred to me that my experience with the trailer wheel just might be a metaphor for the oyster company’s fight for survival. The Lunnys may be getting squeezed, but they’re not going to be crushed.<\/p>\n

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Western Weekend, West Marin’s annual salute to its agricultural heritage, was held Saturday and Sunday in Point Reyes Station with a parade and 4-H animal competition. Pete Tomasetti and his wife riding a 1941 Farmall Tractor followed by a 1938 Allis Chalmers tractor driven by Ben Wright together took first place in the parade’s Farm […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":623,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,7,186,2],"tags":[229,549,1138,94,292,85],"class_list":["post-19639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agriculture","category-history","category-point-reyes-national-seashore","category-point-reyes-station","tag-drakes-bay-oyster-company","tag-jim-patterson","tag-point-reyes-station","tag-point-reyes-olema-4-h-club","tag-tobys-feed-barn","tag-western-weekend"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/623"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19639"}],"version-history":[{"count":65,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40352,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19639\/revisions\/40352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}