Looking Back and Looking Forward
By: Nate Gartrell
In 1957, the citizens of Vacaville decided to come together in a weeklong celebration of the area’s ties to the American West, and what better place to do that than a city that literally translates to “Cow Town”? Sixty-two years later, the tradition continues with a multi-day party that shows off Vacaville’s fiesta spirit.
Known as Fiesta Days, this four-day celebration of the city’s past, present, and future is part of a lineage of large celebrations and parties in Vacaville that goes back more than 100 years. This year’s festival will be from May 23rd to the 26th, at its longtime home of Andrews Park in Vacaville.
The Fiesta Days celebration is run by a nonprofit, aptly called Vacaville Fiesta Days, a donor- and volunteer-run organization that puts together not just Fiesta Days, but also several other annual celebrations throughout the city.
“It’s not put on by very many,” said Karen Juliffs, the general chair of Vacaville Fiesta Days. “I think our whole staff is about 18 people, and we put on a 50,000-person event each year. It’s just our small board of directors and volunteers.”
Juliffs involved herself with the festival for 25 years, nearly half its history, and helped run the nonprofit for the past decade. She said many of the fiesta’s events and competitions—like the locally-famous Diaper Derby—date back to the original celebration in 1957. It is not uncommon to see families with multiple generations coming to Fiesta Days each year for as long as their families have been in town. “It’s a longstanding event,” Karen said. “There are a lot of special things about Fiesta Days.”
The history of Fiesta Days started long before the first festival actually took place: in April 1916, Vacaville put on an event called Pageant Day to celebrate the city’s history, as an early indication that Vacaville wanted its own fair, such as ones that are held in nearby Dixon each year. Fiesta Days’ website describes the very first pageant day:
Main Street was draped with flags, and 1,500 lined the street to watch the parade of 300 pageant participants pass from High School Hill down to Main…Chief Solano led the parade followed by American Indians native to the Vacaville area. Next followed the Spanish with descendants of the city’s founding families, the Vaca’s and the Pena’s. A chorus sang ‘La Paloma.’ Next came the Franciscan fathers, the gold rush miners, cowboys, farmers, the Japanese and Chinese, Gypsies and singing schoolchildren. Bringing up the rear were decorated automobiles—still a new sight in 1916.
Despite the success, Pageant Day turned out to be a one-time thing, but folks yearned for a festival of their own. In 1957, they created Fiesta Days as an echo to Pageant Day. The very first Fiesta Day leaned heavily on western traditions; there was a rodeo, two days of square dancing, a queen pageant, a large parade, and a beard growing contest. The beard growing contest was a bit more serious than you might expect—those who failed to grow a beard for the festival were thrown in a “jail,” specially made for the festival (all in good fun, of course). Nowadays, whereas 1,500 people attended Pageant Day, the Fiesta Days celebration attracts tens of thousands of folks each year, from Vacaville and the surrounding cities. As its website says, “Events changed and committee members disagreed, battled, quit and rejoined, but somehow, Fiesta Days has endured for 50 years.”
For this year, instead of two days of square dancing, the event will have a beer garden with plenty of musical grounds with local tribute bands: Jackson Stone, Hey Jude, Rhythm Method 4, the Time Bandits, and Skinny Lynyrd.
The festival will also have a carnival with more than 25 rides, as well as a Family Fun Zone for young children. “The kids’ zone is totally revamped,” Karen said. “This year, we’re coordinating with the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) program.”
They will also host a longstanding annual competition, designed to make you hot and sweaty. I’m talking, of course, about the jalapeño and onion-eating contest. It takes a stomach of steel to compete—and you have to be at least 18 years old—but sign up if you think you’ve got what it takes, and compete against locals who’ve been at it year after year!
“People that come here from out of town end up spending time here and, living here, realize there’s something different,” Scott McKenzie, one of three grand marshals for this year’s Fiesta Days parade, said in a news release. “It’s really community-centered and oriented; it’s a pretty big town, but it still has a small-town feel.”
Then, there’s probably the most adorable event of Fiesta Days, the Diaper Derby, which is a race, of sorts. It features dozens of babies who crawl their way across soft mats as the outstretched hands of their parents lure them to the finish line. Prizes include trophies, bibs, baby T-shirts, and ribbons. Many Vacaville natives have participated over the years, even if they can’t remember doing it. According to the local newspaper, the tradition has been around for 62 years and counting. “I have seen families with five generations of members who have all been in the Diaper Derby,” Karen said.
On Saturday (again in the tradition of the original Vacaville Pageant Day), a parade will celebrate the city’s history and heritage, which will go down Merchant Street. This year’s grand marshal announced at a February cocktail party and crab feed, all are from one family: Scott, David and Ian McKenzie, the owners of Pacific Ace Hardware. “It’s an honor,” Scott said of the designation, in a news release put out by Fiesta Days. “It’s a great community.”
The Pacific Ace Hardware store has a common thread with the fiesta itself, in that both have been around since 1957. The McKenzie family has attended the festival for the long haul, and it is far from the first time its members have participated in the parade. “I’ve taken my children to Fiesta Days’ parades and events since day one,” David said in a news release. “Even when we’ve lived in Dixon, we’ve never missed a parade.”
Fiesta Days has a long list of other fun events: a golf tournament, a car show, and, before the festival starts, there will also be a kickoff barbecue at the park on May 20th. There will be a singing competition in the vein of American Idol that will be on Sunday at 2 p.m., featuring cash prizes for the winners of three age divisions: 5-12, 13-18, and 19+. $20 is the entry fee for all participants.
In order to put on celebrations year-round, Vacaville Fiesta Days relies on its own fundraising efforts, as well as the crucial work from volunteers around the city. While the work behind the festival is challenging, volunteers are a big part of what makes it all possible each year. “[Volunteer] opportunities include gate security, beer pouring, and clean-up at the Beer Garden from Thursday through Monday of Fiesta Days week…Volunteer shifts are 4-hour shifts and sign-ups are open on a first-come/first-serve basis,” the nonprofit’s website says. If you’re interested in volunteering, visit fiestadays.org/contact/how-to-volunteer.
Fiesta Days begin on Thursday, May 23rd and run through Sunday, May 26th. For additional information on events, to sign up as a vendor, or participate in a contest, visit fiestadays.org. Email them at fiestadays@yahoo.com or call the festival’s organizers at (707) 448-4613.
Nate Gartrell grew up in Benicia, studied journalism in college, and has written for a handful of media outlets since age 15. He aspires to visit all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums and to hit the trifecta at the horse track.
