sbrobert
The 30th Annual Goleta Lemon Festival had live music, dancing, food, a car show, carnival rides, a climbing wall, information booths and everything to do with lemons. Including people dressed up in lemon themed outfits.
We first encountered the Sheriff Department “County Copter 2” and this gentleman kindly posed with it.
This Sheriff officer had more traditional transport.
Here was something in between. Sheriff’s Deputy Hartley Freedman posed with it.
I was intrigued by the Dodge Brothers logo, which looked like a Jewish Star of David. Hartley offered some speculation on the reason behind it, but said no one really knows what the logo means. Some online searching confirms that the Dodge Brothers died without revealing the secret meaning.
One of the big attractions at the Festival was a big car show. Ranging from antiques of the early 20th century on up through what were normal cars in my 1960s-1970s childhood on up to recent models.
Who knew that Canada was once a top auto producer? This is a 1956 Canadian Lucerne.
Canada actually still produces a lot of cars, just not Canadian brands. US automakers moved a lot of manufacturing across the border from Detroit. Why? To take advantage of their universal health care system. If US business had any sense, they would be advocating for a similar system here. It takes the load off of business and vastly cuts waste and overhead.
These young people wore festive lemon-themed outfits and posed with a lemon-colored truck!
Gregorio Salgado lives in a modest home, but he stores his restored antique vehicles in various places around town. Here he posed with some of the five he had on display.
This is a 1958 Ford Skyliner, brought by Joe Paz. It has an elaborate system of stowing its roof where the trunk should be. Which does not leave much cargo room in this work of art!
Speaking of works of art, Ron posed with this work of art that he got at a bargain price from someone who needed cash in a hurry. Ron lives in Rancho Embarcadero at the far western end of Goleta and serves on their board.
My grandfather had a Cadillac like this when I was a kid. He was not wealthy, though I thought he was when I was a kid. He was in the food business and I guess having a Cadillac made him seem like a successful businessman.
As a kid, we had a 1955 Plymouth Belvedere. It looked a lot like the classic 1957 Chevy. I asked some of these classic car people why it is so rare to see one like ours at a show. They said not many were made. Someone told me there was a newer one on display. Tom Berry posed with his 1963 Belvedere, which was very different than ours. I asked how he fuels it, since they needed leaded fuel with no ethanol. He said there is a local vendor of such fuel, which has to be supplemented with additives. Not cheap. He said his car gets about ten miles to the gallon.
At the other extreme of classic cars, how about this one?
Please check out the rest of my photos for many more classic car photos.
There were also plenty of information booths at the Festival, covering a wide range of issues and services. Moms Demand Action had a petition for gun safety. They let me sign, even though I am not a mom.
Chris Hastert is our new Santa Barbara Airport Director. He kindly posed for a photo with his colleagues (Chris is at the right end). I also talked to him a bit about airport activities, since our home is on the flight path. I asked particularly about the Osprey flights. It is cool to watch them. But they seem to use my office window as a guide and I can count every rivet as they barely clear our roof, shaking the building.
Ospreys are infamous for crashing a lot. I was concerned that these are training flights with new pilots-to-be. He said that these are not training flights of new pilots. They are routine flights by experienced pilots in order to stay current. That was a relief. He said that Santa Barbara Airport was originally a military facility and it is in their charter that they have to allow continued military use. He said they get very little information from the military about what they are doing.
These children were out for a ride in kiddie versions of John Deere tractors.
And these energetic girls were flying high on the climbing wall.
And these kids were soaring with bungee cords and trampolines! I was way impressed with the girl who repeatedly did flips!
Merlie and I posed for a photo when I won a $25 gift card from Rusty’s Pizza!
Here are some more lemon themed people!
Did I mention the music and dancing? Area 51 was probably the biggest hit for dancing. They packed the dance floor so much that we only got in one dance! Here is my short video of them performing some of their disco music and the crowd dancing.
Again, be sure to check out more of my many photos here!
– Robert Bernstein
