A thin but broken cover of clouds gave way to sunshine and pleasant temperatures for the thousands who attended the Ceres Street Faire over the weekend which offered food, shopping, entertainment and carnival rides for families.

“It was outstanding,” said Street Faire Committee Chairwoman Lisa Mantarro Moore of the event. “The weather was perfect. We were full on all our booths. All our vendors reported excellent sales both days, many of them selling out of their food items on Sunday afternoon.”

The 35th annual downtown Ceres event, sponsored by the Ceres Chamber of Commerce, Ceres Lions Club and the city of Ceres, featured live local entertainment, arts and crafts booths, a petting zoo, commercial and food vendors, a Saturday car show that attracted over 130 vehicles and a Sunday low-rider car show with over 30 vehicles. Nasson Sanchez also arranged to have a DJ playing vinyl records on Fourth Street during the Sunday low-rider show.

Food booths operated by non-profit organizations, such as the Ceres Lions Club selling barbecued tri-tip sandwiches, were busy both days. 

 “A lot of the non-profits did very well as far as making money,” noted Chamber President Brandy Meyer. “Everybody said they were doing well. The only complaint I heard was Sunday morning about the wind. They’d wish the wind would die down a little bit and then it did die down.” 

Moore believed the heaviest crowds came on Sunday between noon and 4 p.m. with the event closing down an hour later at 5 p.m.

“People were happy to be outside in the great weather and great music,” said Moore. “Our bands on Sunday really brought a lot of their own crowds also. And we had great performers on Saturday highlighting Shella (Joiner) that evening. So I think we kept our stage area very robust and we had a lot of great performers.”

Joiner of Ceres is a singer in the band, LaVonne & the Train Wreck.

The Whitmore Park gazebo area hosted a number of youth groups and musicians who entertained the crowd, including young dancers and karate demonstrations. The downtown stage on Lawrence Street featured a Sunday performance by Ceres country singer Greg Scudder and his band the Honky-Tonk Heroes. Other performers were Candace Lane, Emerson Biggs and the Sonhouse Blues & Gospel Band.

Saturday’s car show drew lots of admirers of classics and modified cars, such as Gilbert Santoyo’s 1962 mint-colored Chevy C-10 parked next to Edgar Aranda’s rare 1959 Chevy Apache. On the opposite side of the Fourth Street was Raymond Dias’ rare 1957 Cameo pickup which is kept at his Manteca home. The Cameo is one of only 2,244 produced in 1957. Daniel Thomas drove his 1930 Ford pickup to the event and enjoyed the attention to received.

One vehicle that drew a lot of attention on Saturday was the 1963 Chevy Impala Super Sport convertible turned into a low-rider restored by Turlock residents Efraim Ayala and his son Preston Ayala.

“It’s all chromed out underneath, eight batteries, two pumps, full high lock-up … reinforced for the hydraulics and everything … lots of work, lots of gold,” said Preston Ayala. “This is a 15-year build car.”

The Ayalas were offered $180,000 for the car, but they refused to sell, believing it is worth $200,000.

“These cars just keep going up in price over the years.”

“Our car show enthusiasts are the very best,” commented Moore. “They put so much time and energy into their vehicles and they support these activities. They come early and have breakfast at the local diners. They spend their money here locally. It’s just really nice.”

At 3 p.m. the winners of the Saturday Car Show were recognized. They were:

Ceres Chamber Choice – Efrain Ayala’s 1963 SS Convertible;

Lions Club Choice Award – Doug Wallick;

Competitor’s Award – Rudy Martinez’s  1948 Oldsmobile;

Chief’s Award – George Moniz’s 1949 Chevy Canopy Express;

Best Modified - Sam Climer;

Best Original – Jerry Rhodes’s Chevy Bel-Air;

Sponsor’s Choice – Geovany Padilla’s 1969 C-10;

Best of Show Car – Ric Foley’s 1955 Dodge Custom Convertible;

Best of Show Truck – Edgar Aranda’s 1959 Chevy Apache;

Grand Champion – Raymond Diaz’s 1957 Chevy Cameo.

Awards at Sunday’s Low Rider Car Show were as follows:

Best of Show – Mona and Jerry Hernandez’s 1967 Chevy Impala;

Best Truck of Show – Rachel Valenzuela’s 1994 Mini Truck;

Best Original – Joseph Zapian’s 1924 Model A;

Best Modified – Alfonso Cervantes’ 1969 Master Deluxe;

Ricky Valenzuela’s 2000 Harley Davidson was awarded Best Lowrider Bike of the Show.

Commercial booths included Ceres Youth Soccer Organization taking sign-ups for fall play.

Modesto Firefighters participated in the Street Faire with on-duty firefighters giving tours of the downtown fire station and fire apparatus while off-duty firefighters were joined by Modesto Fire explorers and MFD administrator at a booth where they sold deep fried loaded tater tots.