Editor, Ceres Courier,
This year's Street Faire was a tremendous success. The Street Faire committee was very proud of our efforts to ensure that our 30th anniversary of our festival was memorable. In our continuing effort for Celebrating Ceres in 2018, we really wanted to showcase what our community had to offer. After the new design for the downtown, we worked to modify our booths and entertainment areas to best serve our attendees and our businesses.
We had to spend several months reviewing the changes to Fourth Street and its measurements so we could maximize our booths and ensure we met all safety and evacuation needs as per the Fire Marshall. We moved the downtown stage to Lawrence street (its original location) so we could utilize the streets better. We really encouraged local businesses to partner with us at this year's festival and worked to not impede their business. We really wanted our Faire goers comfortable so we provided more seating areas on Fourth Street including in front of the Rusty Nail and Pasta Pronto.
This year's Faire had over 120 vendors including arts and crafts/community service and commercial vendors. We utilized both Third and Fourth streets with our food vendors heavily on Third Street. The Lions beer booth and the Chamber margarita booth kept everyone well hydrated. Both high schools had several booths with tasty treats as well.
The car show had the largest attendance ever with 140 entries and Clovis "Elvis" King was on hand for a live performance and presented our awards.
The parade did an outstanding job with a huge amount of spectators and fabulous reviews.
The Centennial committee sold Centennial coins and other items at the the Faire. It was fantastic to have the first Street Faire chairman working as hard as he did in 1988.
The children's area reported excellent reviews with lots of attractions including a Ferris Wheel, the slide and the pony rides.
The mild temperatures were also really beneficial to this year's success.
Many people refer to the Ceres Street Faire as the community's annual reunion and it's true. Our community designed a festival that allows for us to showcase our non-profits, enjoy our vendors and appreciate our downtown and we did just that. Our community and its workers really come together for a successful festival. We have lots of folks who come every year because they know we have amazing food and high standards. It's a great event and our committee works really had to keep our Street Faire intact.
A big thank you is owed to our sponsors including the Rusty Nail, 3 Amigos, Save Mart, Valley First Credit Union, Kase Manufacturing, 5 Star Auto, Delta Brand, Foods for Less/Rancho San Miguel - they are our community sponsors and we couldn't do it without them!
Lisa Mantarro Moore,
Chairperson,
Ceres Street Faire
Committee
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