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Entries welcome for return of Faire Parade
Rev. Condit, McKay, Fisher to be grand marshals
Clydesdales
Clysdale horses from Cal Crush in Ripon have been entered into the upcoming May 7 Ceres Street Faire Parade. The horses will be pulling a carriage or wagon carrying the grand marshals. - photo by Contributed to the Courier

After a 10-year hiatus, Ceres is reinstating its Ceres Street Faire Parade and organizers are seeking more entries to make it a memorable event.

The parade will kick start the 28th annual Ceres Street Faire at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 7. Grand marshals will be Rev. Adrian Condit , Rocky Fisher and Dick McKay, all past Citizens of the Year.

"We're very positive of having anywhere between 80 and 100 applicants," said event Helen Smith who is organizing the parade with Helen Condit. "We've started from scratch putting several hours into organizing it and I think we're going to have a really nice parade."

So far about 40 entrants have signed up for the parade from Ceres, Turlock, Modesto and other areas. The Shriner's and their miniature Tin Lizzies have entered and a team of six Cal Crush Clydesdale horses from Ripon will be pulling the wagon with the grand marshals, said Smith. Office seekers Congressman Jeff Denham and challenger Robert Hodges will be in the parade as will incumbent Stanislaus County Supervisor Jim DeMartini and challenger Eileen Wyatt Stokman of Ceres.

Equestrian entries may be limited since the Ceres parade is competing with the Mother Lode Rodeo Round-Up Parade in Sonora, said Smith.

Other entries so far include 4-H groups, several baseball and softball teams from Ceres Youth Baseball, Ceres Seahawks, and the American Legion color guard.

The parade will assemble at Smyrna Park and march southbound on Moffet Road, and turn onto westbound Whitmore Avenue. The judges' stand and VIP seating area will be at the northwest corner of Whitmore and Moffet. Announcers for the parade will be Ceres native Jim Wells, known as "Jungle Jim" on Kat Country radio station, and Jay Casey of Casey's Moving Systems of Ceres. The parade will finish on Fourth Street with some of the cars being entered into the Street Faire Car Show.

About 150 volunteers will be helping to make sure the parade goes smoothly.

The parade last occurred during the Ceres Street Faire in 2005, said Smith.

"I've wanted to have it for quite some time and at the end of the Street Faire last year Helen (Condit) was approached to see if she would be interested in doing the parade and so she and I have taken on the reins to bring it back. So we are co-chairing it this year and hope to keep it around for several years."

Entry into the parade is free for non-profit organizations and schools. Equestrian and business entries will cost $20 while politicians and office holders pay $75.

"We're also offering, if any children are interested in being in the parade but don't belong to any organization, we'd like to have kids of the community ... come and bring their bicycles, decorate it, scooters, skateboards - they must have a helmet, of course - or if they just want to walk in the parade. We would love to have as many children as possible from our community to be in the parade. That's what it's all about, bringing our community together."

Persons or groups interested in entering the parade should email ceressfparade@gmail.com. The application deadline is April 27.

"If there's somebody who thinks they want to be in the parade but can't get their application in in time, if they could just contact us or put a message on Facebook or email us just to let us know they're interested, that way we could save a spot for them and we could speak with them and go from there as far as getting them in the parade."

Sponsors for the parade are Modern Urgent Care, American Pet Clinic, Casey's Moving Systems, the Ceres Street Faire and Stanislaus County Supervisor Jim DeMartini.