Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:23):
Did you know that Anaheim's been celebrating fall over a century,
long before Disneyland opened its gates. As a matter of fact,
ottomn and Anaheim actually has its own kind of magic.
The leaves may not turn gold like in the Midwest,
but the city comes alive in its own way with
pumpkin patches, crisp evenings, and a century old tradition that
(00:46):
celebrates everything wonderful about fall and community. Anaheim, which is
the largest city in Orange County and it's home to Disneyland,
of course, is famous also for imagination. But long before
Mickey Mouse moved in, there was another kind of magic
taking place right here in Anaheim, the Anaheim Fall Festival.
(01:08):
For more than one hundred years, this festival has captured
the quirky, nostalgic spirit of the season with parades, costume crafts,
and that unmistakable small town feeling in the middle of big,
bustling city.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Today, I'm joined.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
By Evi Yapelli, a creative entrepreneur, artist, and board member
of the Anaheim Fall Festival. Evie brings definitely an insider's
view of how this beloved event has evolved over the
decades she's been in it for a very long time.
Obviously not one hundred years, but she certainly has her
heart and pulse on the history. She's been helping to
(01:48):
keep the heritage and the life of this alive while
adding fresh creative energy from a new generation. And that's
very important. So grab your caramel apple, find a cozy seat,
get a glass of apple cider, and get ready to
fall in love all over again with one of Orange
(02:08):
County's most treasured traditions.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Welcome Yapelli to so caw with Belle.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Thank you so much. Val, What a beautiful introduction to
anyone who isn't familiar with the Anaheim Fall Festival and
Halloween Parade.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
So tell us you are known as a creative entrepreneur.
Tell us a little bit first of all about your
background and what drew you to the Anaheim Fall Festival.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Sure, I am originally from Chicago, Illinois. I grew up
there and went to school there, and after college decided
that I wanted to pursue being a tattoo artist. I
had an art background, and tattooing became specifically interesting to me.
So I did an apprenticeship there and then was about
(02:55):
two years out of my apprenticeship working professionally, and my
husband was working for a company that decided to relocate
to southern California. So of all the places you could relocate,
that's a pretty good option, listen.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
I grew up in that area, so I know what
you traded. You traded snow for sunshine.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Yes, and I love Chicago. Chicago's great, but I mean,
it's true what they say about the weather is true.
And my father is actually from Whittier initially, and then
my aunt still lives in San Diego, so I had
some familiarity with how much I was going to love
southern California, you know. But of course it's hard when
(03:37):
you move across the country to find your people, your community.
So yeah, my husband and I both we had friends,
but it takes a little while to find people. And
then in my own business, I first was working for
other folks, and then in twenty sixteen, I went out
on my own and I opened my own studio called
(03:58):
Shopichin Tattoo. And the best thing about that is it
gave me the opportunity to do more of what I wanted.
I didn't feel so beholden too a boss, you know,
And one of those things, one of those opportunities that
came up was the Fall Festival. I had some artwork
(04:18):
featured in a local article and one of the volunteers
with the event saw it and thought I might be
a good fit to get involved in some way. This
was ten years ago, so they reached out to me
and invited me to check out the parade warehouse. And
I went and saw these amazing parade floats, which are incredible,
(04:41):
like professional quality floats, all built by members of the
community who are volunteering their time and skills. It's incredible.
So it wasn't hard for them to convince me to
get involved.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
That was easy.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Huh yeah, absolutely So the first year in twenty sixteen,
I joined simply as an artist vendor, and it was
pretty small. You know, the event itself has been going
on since nineteen twenty.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Three, isn't that amazing? Nineteen incredible?
Speaker 3 (05:10):
And it had originally began because you know, trigg or
treating is how we know of Halloween these days, but
it wasn't always that way. Right. If we've seen Meet
Me in Saint Louis the movie, there's that great Halloween
scene that shows, you know the way that the kids
used to celebrate is buy more tricks than treats basically,
(05:33):
so kids were opening up windows and basically causing mayhem
in downtown Anaheim in the early nineteen twenties. So a
local merchants association got together and decided that if they
put on an event that would be something for the
kids to do.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
They might behave instead. Yes, exactly, much called dreaming, right, So.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Yeah, everybody loved it. It was a big hit. The next year,
in nineteen twenty four, they added the evening parade, so
then it became the festival and the parade, and then,
as you can imagine, over that time there, it has
grown and changed and vacillated quite a bit. And so
when I first joined there was it was kind of small.
(06:19):
I was one of three artist vendors at the time. Yeah,
and all of those vendors are still vending with us
this year, and it's just grown since then, So the
festival has grown and the footprint actually now this year
we've always been along Center Street in Anaheim, right in
(06:40):
the Center Street promenade, and yeah, exactly, and this year
the festival is going to be just around the corner
at Center Greens Park, which is Yeah, have you been
it's a gorgeous new park. I think it's only about
a year old, and the city built its specific for
(07:00):
these types of events so that it's like a community
gathering space, and it gave us the opportunity to move
the festival over there, which opened up Center Street during
the day for us to bring back the classic car Show,
which had at one time been a part of the festival.
So that's going to be going on just a hop,
(07:22):
skip and jump from the festival. Then the car show
will and the stage will be set for the parade,
which starts at seven pm that evening. So it's basically
just a full day of festival, fun, parade fun, it's
family friendly. It's really an incredible event.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
So fun. Yeah, So.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
What inspired you to become involved as a board member
over time?
Speaker 3 (07:50):
So I started as a vendor and then a couple
of years in it was just so special. It's basically
how my husband and I found this community that we
were looking for having moved from Chicago and not you know,
really finding our place. Once we started vending, even at
(08:11):
that even low level of interaction that was sort of
more like once a year, it just was really special
and we knew there was something cool going on. So
I did a fundraiser, because it's a completely sponsored event.
I did my own tattoo fundraiser at my business, where
I took some of the character designs from the event
(08:35):
and offered them as tattoos and donated the money that
I raised to the event.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Oh that's nice. Yeah, some of those characters. But I mean,
I'm the Our.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Main mascot is Andy Anaheim, and he's not exclusively the
parade mascot. He's the mascot of Anaheim. Do you know
about Andy Anaheim?
Speaker 2 (08:55):
I guess I don't know him well enough.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Yeah, lots of people don't him Andy Anaheim.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
I see him.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Yes, it's an anthropomorphic letter a. He was actually designed
by the Walt Disney Company and gifted to this Anaheim.
It was sort of like a thank you for letting
them open Disneyland.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
So Andy.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Yeah, So Andy has served as the mascot of Anaheim
since the mid fifties. Yeah, and our version of Andy
approved by the city is like it's Andy and his
Halloween regalia. So as Pumpkin our new logo, which is
just a spruced up version of the early logo. He's
(09:43):
got like his playful Witch's Hat and it's Andy. He's
we consider him the band leader of our career. Then
we've got Pumpkin Man, who is of one of our volunteers.
It created this amazing character, Pumpkin Man, and he's a
main event. He'll he roams throughout the festival so you
(10:07):
can get photo ops with him, which is all and
then he marches in the parade. Of course. Of course
we also have bisu Buela is one of our more
recent additions. I think she was added a handful of
years ago. Bisa buelas great grandmother and yeah, our event
(10:29):
in addition to celebrating Halloween and the harvest season in general,
we celebrate Day of the Dead and Bisubuela is our
float parade float representation of that. She's a really amazing, intricate,
gorgeous float, huge, I think she's our tallest float. It's
absolutely overwhelming when you see her, house like striking and
(10:51):
beautiful she is. And one of the coolest things about
Bisa Buela is that it's an interactive float where during
the day at the festival, there's a craft booth that
folks and you know, obviously we're very kid friendly, but
adults love.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
It too, Yes, yes, yes, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
So you go and and volunteer leads you through making
an oregon a butterfly, and then you write the name
of a deceased loved one and follow the butterfly, and
then those are tied to her skirts, so as she
travels the parade route, it's a symbolic representation of releasing
(11:36):
the butterflies in honor deceased loved ones.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Oh that's lovely.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Isn't that special?
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Lovely? Yes? Yes, yes? So is that float the same
every year? Do they build a new one?
Speaker 3 (11:48):
It's the same float, And all of our floats get
kind of spruced up each year. She's in conditioned because
she's one of our more recent additions. But each year
she's tended to beautifully. We have an amazing tears who
have sown her garments, and she has like these incredible
big you know, I don't even know what they're actually
made out, because of course it's not real jewelry. It's
(12:09):
too big, but it's like an enormous like she's got
an enormous ring.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
And beads and a fun she's gorgeous. Absolutely, that's great.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
And so people when people ask you to tattoo them
with Andy Anaheim.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Yes, I've done and Anaheim tattoos absolutely, and in fact
I have one from a friend who is an Anaheim native.
And once I've moved here officially to Anaheim, my first
thought was I can finally get an Andy Anaheim tattoo.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Oh oh that's nice. Yes, interesting.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Yes, So, as you know a little bit about we
have a real estate business here and I'm we managed
vacation aunt properties, and so often people will come in
and say, I've lived here since Disneyland, or this house
was built before Disneyland, or I was here. You know,
(13:06):
I've got the old e tickets from Anaheim and those
kids have been around that long. Well they're not kids now,
but that's really interesting. So much history involved with with Disneyland,
and so.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
You just think that's all it is.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
I don't think of anything else in Anaheim except Disneyland,
which is really interesting because we often talk about what
do people do if they come here and they don't
want to go to Disneyland or they've been.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
There before for whatever reason. What do you advise? Yeah, Well,
so of.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Course the packing house is interesting because even the packing
house for our viewers and our listeners. The packing house
was a place where they actually packed oranges. And there
is a little room there actually where they show the
black and white movies, right, which you wouldn't know about.
It's almost like a little hidden place. And I think
(13:56):
there's a restaurant and there's something like the Hidden Rabbit
or something.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Hm hmm, kind of like to speak easy.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
So that's one place and and so those kind of
things in Anna and that's really you know what it was,
and there's so much history it's and it's it's county's
biggest city, so it's fun to see those things. And absolutely,
and that's at the difference in housing because you have
Anaheim Hills, which is really high end up in the hills,
(14:23):
and then you have the Disneyland, right really the Disneyland
era housing.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Yeah, that's one of the things that the parade. Being
involved in the parade introduced me to Anaheim, especially not
being from southern California, originally, I wasn't aware of things
like the packing house and Center Street promenade and Museo
which is this incredible our galery at museum that I
(14:48):
have since had the opportunity to work with, which is
incredible and it's We've still lived in Costa Mesa actually
when we first got involved with the parade, and it's
what made us want to move to Anaheim because we
didn't like a lot of people. We thought Anaheim's Disneyland,
and there's this entire rich tapestry of creative people that
(15:09):
may in some way be related to Disneyland, but are
you know, totally separate and all this other cool stuff
going on.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
And the city government, to its credit, over the past
several years, Yes, has really spruced up the Disneyland what
we call the resort area with the big palm trees
up and down Katella and making that just a much
nicer looking area. And lots of the new hotels have
(15:37):
come in near the West and and some of the
others that have I think up to the appearance around
the convention center and we have some really large conventions
Expo West that comes every year. Yeahs NA, so Yes
and area.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
I agree.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
It's absolutely beautiful what they've done.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
It is it is. They've done a great job.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
So tell us what are some of the behind the
scenes work that most people just might not realize.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Oh, for sure, the biggest thing that surprises people is
when in April we start talking about going to the
volunteer warehouse and people say, wait what, because imagine any
large event takes a whole year to plan. Yeah, so
(16:24):
our festival season, our planning season, starts generally in April,
the most behind the scenes folks get together and start
talking about, you know, what we're going to do for
the year. Then we have our first warehouse meeting and
talk about, Okay, are we building any new floats, what
floats need to be refurbished? Is there anything you know?
(16:46):
We're we're big on trying to improve the experience every year.
So what hiccups did we have last year that we
can streamline, What new sponsor is interested in, how can
we work with them this year? Because of that move
to Center Greens, we have the opportunity with it's it's
right next to an auditorium essentially, is like on our
(17:08):
campus that now we have Charles Phoenix doing a show
as part of our festival. How cool is that that?
Speaker 2 (17:15):
It's so cooled?
Speaker 1 (17:15):
You know, he was a guest on our show recently,
not a lot of them, and he's quite a character.
So let's just segue a little. Let's take a little
break from from the main theme of the festival. And
let's talk about so what does he do because I
think he he has slides and he does tours and
he tours Los Angeles with the theme of there's Disneyland
(17:38):
in La So what does he what's his role in
the Anahim Festival?
Speaker 3 (17:42):
So he has always been his long I should say,
been a supporter of the festival, and he's ridden in
the parade before and you know he loves kitchen retro
and on our whole like creative direction of our event
is very retro and nostalgic, so it's a perf fit.
And so his shows are so fun. It's it's almost
(18:04):
like a like a Kitschy comedy show where he has
he collects old slides, like just from strangers that he finds.
He has a huge archive of slides and then he
categorizes them and will do a show that's themed. So
what he's done for us in the past as a
fundraiser that I got that I, you know, was lucky
(18:25):
enough to sit in on, was a slide show that
was all Halloween themed. So yes, can you imagine so
fun like people in their in their Halloween costumes in
nineteen fifty seven and what the way they decorated their
lawns and the way their living room looked, and then
of course he does his clever commentary along with everything. Yeah,
(18:48):
it becomes like a whole basically comedy hour where it's
just it's just really delightful and so fun.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Yes, and he is a delightful gentleman. He just can't
get enough creativities viewing out of him.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
He just go more and more and more and more.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
So the behind the scenes work is deciding on the floats.
Now is there a theme, well, the Daniel theme.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
The theme is is always the same, which is to
celebrate Halloween, the harvest season and Day of the Dead.
So we have, you know, an overall color palette. But
a big thing that we try to do is refer
back to the history of the parade. So you know,
parade has been going on since nineteen well, nineteen twenty
(19:34):
four is when the parade started. It's been going on
since then, the year after the festival started. And we
have a ton of amazing archival images of parades past,
particularly at the Historical Society in Anah time. They keep
incredible records that they've allowed us access to to comb
through and we use yeah, we use it for inspirations.
(19:58):
So we've added floats before that. Our direct throwbacks to
a float from say nineteen fifty six, I might beginning
of the year on, but the silver anniversary of the
parade there was a trolley car float. We rebuilt it
a few years ago. Our modern version are it's when
(20:19):
I say modern, it's not like it's futuristic.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Current day version exactly.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Based on the photographs, and we have one of the
fan favorites is the flying Sasser, which originally some young
boys put together a little flying saucer and wrote flying
Sasser on the outside. There's a great black and white
photo from the fifties of them proudly riding in their Sasser.
(20:49):
So the parade staff rebuilt the Sasser and that's and
this year they've actually redone it. It was out of commission
for a while because you know, as we're as we learn,
like what materials are longest lasting? Also, you got it,
you have to weigh so many things of like it
being functional and beautiful, you know. So that's one of
(21:12):
our newly rebuilt floats for this year is the sass
are based on the one from the fifties.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Now, are most of your floats Disney themed?
Speaker 3 (21:20):
No, actually, none of them are. We Disney is an
incredible supporter of ours. They are one. They're one of
our partner level sponsors, along with the city of the
City of Anaheim as a partner level sponsor of Disneyland,
has always been incredible and.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Supportive as they should be.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Certainly, yeah, they're wonderful, but creatively, there's a distinction between
where we don't use their IP, it's our own, you know,
Andy Anaheim is is IP of the city itself, and
they because we're a sponsored event, they loan us his usage.
And yet all the other characters have been created actually
(21:56):
by creative volunteers, primarily Jody Daily, who does have a
history as working for Disneyland. Now he's a more freelance
than anything, but he had been our creative lead for
a very long time, and I came in this year
helping with I had sort of worked alongside him, as
(22:17):
you know, I was in the the vending spot. Then
I started volunteering at the parade warehouse and really just
was enchanted by it. So he got me involved more.
He brought me out of the board to kind of
help make a consistent branding out of this beautiful work
that he had created over the years, which is also
(22:37):
kind of a celebration of the history of the parade
over the last hundred years.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
And is this a full time job for you?
Speaker 3 (22:46):
No, this is all on the side.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
All of us are volunteers. We all have day jobs
and then do this on the side. So it takes
a village, which.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
I know it does. I know it does.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
So we told us a little bit about how it
began was because there needs some activities for the kids
to make them behave That's not exactly what you said,
but that's kind of yeah, that was kind of the
original purpose something of But Anaheim has changed so much
through the decades. How has the festival managed to stay
(23:23):
relevant and still change?
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Yes, that's a great point. The festival has changed quite
a bit over the years with the city. The Initially
it was a local merchant, grassroots kind of production. At
a certain point it did become more put on by
the city, but then you know, there's budgets and funding
(23:49):
and things. Of course, can only say it consistent for
so long. When it goes over one hundred years, there's
going to be some ab and flow, you know. Yes,
So around twenty twelve was when it got kind of
revitalized by a new group of city volunteers, community volunteers
who said, we really want to refurbish this back to
(24:12):
its its heyday, back to its glory. And I feel
like they've done an incredible job of that that was
a little before my time. And then I came on
board and got to be part of that, which is incredible. Really, that's,
you know, the how do we stay relevant. It's really
about listening to the community and interacting with the community
(24:35):
and making the community part of the show. A big
thing we want to do is it's become even though
it's you know, it's volunteer based, so it's a lot
of work to ask of folks, but it's also at
opportunity for businesses, sponsors, vendors who participate, and so we
always want to basically pour it back into our own community.
(25:00):
Any vendors that we have are Southern California based and
Anaheim first outlying Orange County and then greater southern California.
Even our main partner level sponsors, our local Disneyland city
of Anaheim, the Ducks OC Vibe they are large corporations,
(25:24):
but they're local and specific to our interests. And then
we have a ton of sponsors. The bulk of our
sponsors are made up of lower fundraising amounts that local
businesses provide. And it's really special because our sponsorships range
anywhere from one thousand dollars to ten thousand dollars. Yeah,
(25:48):
so there's really a chance for local businesses to get
involved and that keeps us relevant by constantly communicating with
our own community to output an event that's what they want,
what they want to experience and enjoy.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
And how do you know what they want? Do they
give you feedback?
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Do you have Absolutely, we have direct feedback at the
events and in between the events through social media. But
we actually have data collection too, where we have surveys
that we put out. So anyone going to the festival
this year, keep an eye out. There's a QR code.
There will be a QR code. I think they're hanging
out at the merch booth on cards and you can
(26:26):
fill out a survey because we want to know, you know,
what did you love? What would you love? This is
very much out of just the excitement of it for
the community. It's a nonprofit, so we're not trying to
get rich at it. We're just trying to provide a
great event for our very own community.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
To any particular decades or eras or years stand out.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
Oh, I personally, I love the earliest era, the twenties
because that's with when the AID started. There's really amazing images.
But then there's a lot of great archival footage of
the from the fifties. That's i'd say, what a lot
of our floats throwback to, because that was when the
(27:15):
parade kind of took a new life of creativity and
sort of got bigger. So there's some incredible archival images
of like early floats. One of the floats that has
been redone that's are a classic standard now is from
the fifties and it's the Rocket Witch and Oline a
(27:38):
beautiful woman singing on a rocket. So originally it was
a you know, community member and they made a space
themed sort of atomic you know, fifty sixties atomic.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Style, right and style. Yeah, yeah, Jackson's absolutely yes.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
And she sits on it and you know, waves looks
just like a gorgeous witch on a rocket. And we
have a local community member, Amber Fox, who is a performer.
She has a beautiful retro look to her, vibrant red
hair like the original rocket Witch, and several years ago
(28:20):
she became our modern day rocket Witch.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Oh okay, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
It's fantastic. She is very glamorous in that wonderful back
style and she actually sings and performs while she's on
the float. And this year at the car show, she'll
be performing on stage along Center Street promenade during the
car show.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Wow, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Cool. So and how long has she been involved in
the festival?
Speaker 3 (28:50):
You know, I think she's been there. She's definitely been
there as long as I have possibly before, so at
least ten years, maybe twelve long yeah, possibly longer.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
What are some of the most beloved traditions that still
carry on today?
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Are there any?
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Yeah? You know, the festival has craft booths which are
really special. Those are some of the things that are
sponsored by different local businesses. So some of the crafts change.
But the one I had mentioned before is the bias
of Wela craft of making the butterflies, So that's that's right.
(29:31):
And then there's like a Pinata drafting booth which is
really special. It's the La Pinnata design studio and they
were one of the vendors along with me that first
year that there were just three of us. And they're
just a wonderful I believe, third generation mom and pop
(29:53):
pinata making business, and they sell small pinadas at the event,
but they also have crafts for kids and and grown
up kids too. Can can make a pinada by hand
right there at the table and decorate. Yeah, it's very cool.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
And then they sell the stuffings for inside of it also,
or you have to take it into your local candy
star and fil you just.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
Take your local candy store. Although this year we have
a tiny cinema, the Tiny Cinema, which is another feature,
and they're sponsored by uh the Santa Ana Art House Theater,
the Freeda, and they're going to have the concessions. So
I suppose you can make your pinata and then go
over to the concession stand and just pour your candy
and popcorn right into it.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Yes, And the Freda is just a charming venue.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
It's wonderful. Yeah. So we so for a couple of
years now we've had at the festival this thing called
Tiny Cinema, which a fellow.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Named Davy B.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
Gravy puts on and it's basically it's a lot like
what you were saying is at the packing house, but
it's mobile, so it's like a small trailer that shows
silent movies. Oh yeah, so that'll be there. And then
the Freedom is sponsoring because of of course the like
minded love of film and historical film. Yes, absolutely, so
(31:15):
that's been a great new partnership that we've we've had.
We started with the Tiny s NIM last year and
then we're really excited to have them back this year.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Are there any hidden mistakes or secrets that happened that
people would never know about? Guards there are, well, I hidden.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
When you said hidden, that made me think to mention
the scavenger hunt, which is a will.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Tell us yes, because we have this at this flyer
which Karen's gonna.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Help.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Karen's going to show it talks about this scavenger hunt,
so tell us about it.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
So that started. It was actually a COVID inspired inspiration
because during the years of COVID, we couldn't have the
festival the way that we usually did because of course
you don't want to be interacting that close with that
larger group of people. So one of the creative solutions
that came out of that was a parade of float
scavenger Hunt, where the idea is that you know, tricksters
(32:15):
have hidden the floats around the downtown and you get
a little passport. You start at one of the stops
and you go and you find the different floats and
you get stamps on your passport for each float, and
then you turn it in at the end and you're
entered to win two tickets to Disneyland. So it's a
(32:38):
very popular feature, is the scavenger Where.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Were the floats positioned? Were they throughout the city.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
Throughout the downtown area? Yeah, I can't get too specific
because it's a secret, of course, but but you don't
have to walk far. It's all within the sort of
the campus of the event.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
But how did that help during COVID, because we weren't instead.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
Of having all like gathering one.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Spot, oh icye the crowding out.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
To separate it wasn't you know, don't I don't believe
we did it in twenty twenty, but like in following
years when we were still a little cautious, it was
a way to spread the crowd out so that it
wasn't that I concentrated.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
I see, well that's a great idea.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Yeah, and then it was so popular we kept it going,
you know, and kept it growing.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
And it started just during the COVID.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Yeah, that one was probably in It would have been
twenty twenty one or twenty twenty two, I believe.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
Oh what a great idea.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Yeah, because everybody loves a scavenger hunt anyway, absolutely, or
who doesn't want to go and have some mystery.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
And some secrets.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
So what are some of the unexpected behind the scene moments?
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Ooh, well, like.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
A float isn't ready on time, or we have there
were he's supposed to be, or.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
You're reminding me that. Yes, So I had mentioned earlier
that we the Sasser was rebuilt this year, and I'm
remembering now that I believe the reason is because it
careened off of the trailer that it was carrying it
to the parade a few years back. So there's I mean,
there's certain things. It's it's it's actually amazing that everything
(34:19):
goes right most of the time.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
So of course you have an experienced committee. I'm sure
that you do a great job.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
Yes, absolutely, it's any large event like this, it's about adaptability, right, not.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Not how absolutely, because you could have rained, you could
have a wind, you could have you know, somebody crashes
their car into one of the you know, displayed something.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Who knows, right, So.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
Yeah, we have hiccups here and there and logistic issues
and and the the nice thing is it seems that
we've always managed to keep that away from the public,
where the public still sees it all this perfect wonderful
event that they didn't even think anything could have possibly.
You know, it's like it's like the Disneyland magic of you.
(35:07):
You want to hide everything backstage. That's sort of our
philosophy too, is like they don't need to know about
those a little bit. All they need to do is
see the magic. Keep it mad.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Absolutely, absolutely absolutely, And I'm sure that that happens at Disneyland,
where that's just something's going on and okay, well we're
just going to light these fireworks and nobody will ever
know right, rack them, show up, pray moving, and turn
the music on right and everything will be just fine.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Yes, absolutely, fad.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
The festival is known for its nostalgia whimsical vibe. So
how would you describe its personality?
Speaker 3 (35:46):
Oh, I feel it's it's we always say spooky not scary,
and you know it's it's very Halloween, but not in
a scary way, not in a gory way. And also
an important thing. I think we are definitely kid friendly,
but that doesn't mean you have to be a kid
to enjoy it. Yes, you know, I's.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Good for those of us who are a little bit
older kids age exactly.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
I myself, I don't have kids, and I the kid
in me is just as excited to go to the event,
you know as my friends who have kids who see
it through their eyes.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Yes, definitely. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
And actually one of the fun things we have is
we have costume contests as part of the festival, and
there's a kiddy costume contest, so kids dress up and
sometimes there's a category where it's like a family costume too.
Oh and then we have a doggy costume contest.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Of course you absolutely must have a dog done.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
So one of my favorite traditions is throughout the day
you see kids and dogs in clever, amazing homemade costumes
walking around the festival. It's my favorite thing.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Of course. Yeah. Fun.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Are there any unique or only in Anaheim features that
give the festival its signature localture arm.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
That's a great question. That is one of the things
that we try to do, particularly with the artist vendors
that we have good We try to we try to
curate a team of vendors that you don't just see
at any kind of street festival. They might be artisans
who do other street festivals, but it's not like your
(37:28):
typical kind of thing that you would find at a
street fair. We try to find that are very unique
and artists and made and so that it's like this
this collection of things you really are only getting access
to once a year at this event.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Well, that's one of the questions I have is how
do local artists and makers contribute to keeping that quirky
energy alive?
Speaker 3 (37:52):
Oh yeah, that's such an important part of it. You know,
it's certainly not the only part of it, because especially
as we've expanded, to have a lot more more live
performances and more room for craft booths and things, which
is phenomenal. But I think that the heart of it
is really the local artists. Oh yeah, both the ones
(38:13):
who volunteer like me, and also the ones who come
in as vendors like me also because I'm a vendor
as well. But we do things where we try to
tie in with our vendors. Like a couple of years
ago was the one hundredth anniversary. This year is the
one hundred and third festival and one hundred and second parade.
(38:35):
So a few years ago we had a two year
long centennial celebrating. Yeah, and one of the things, one
of the many things we did to celebrate was one
of our vendor artists, Gus James, who is like an
unofficial mayor of Anaheim. Is the joke with among folks
who know him because he was born and raised here
(38:57):
and just loves it and is a big supporter of
all the businesses and works here, and he's one of
our artist vendors. So he donated his design skills on
a T shirt that celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of
the other That's beautiful, So that is actually still available
on our website. That's one of these the designs you
(39:21):
can get through our web store if anyone's interested. It
was a really popular design, so we kept it around
in the webshop.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
Well, we know you've talked about how important the community
is to be to the heart of this event, So
how does how do you the board members collaborate with
local organizations, schools, and businesses. How do you get this
businesses to participate and still kind of keep them in
line with your theme and your goal, and how do
you get people to come.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
Absolutely one of the ways that makes that, you know,
kind of easy, is that the board members are all
members of the community, and because it's a volunteer board,
we're also business people who have jobs and have, if
not owning our own businesses, have worked with other local businesses.
(40:11):
So there are neighbors. You know, a lot of the
small businesses in Anaheim. The folks live in Anaheim too,
So it's really as simple as even just having conversations
with the owner of the restaurant you go to on
a regular basis. And a lot of our sponsors have
been sponsoring for years. Then we try to always when
(40:33):
new businesses arrive, we again because we're interested in our
own community, we go out, we check them out, and
we tell them about, hey, there's this event. And one
of the cool things that I love so much is
our folks on the board who work in sponsorship specifically,
they work to kind of pair the sponsorship with the sponsor. So,
(40:58):
for example, I had mentioned before the Tiny Cinema is
sponsored by the Freeo Cinema. Yes, the Basubuela float is
sponsored by Higginfield Mortuary.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
Oh, I saw that they were as sponsors, and now
I know what the connection is.
Speaker 2 (41:13):
Great idea, isn't that great?
Speaker 3 (41:16):
So it's those kinds of tie ins where not only
do we try to find a sponsor who we love,
but we try to pair them with something that feels
authentic down in their business.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Yes, of course, of course, yes, you must do that.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
And then I would guess that there's some businesses that
like they just feel the need to be.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
Involved, right like, if this is happening, I need to
be in it. And that's the idea, right absolutely.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
And there are folks who are like, this is my
float that I want to sponsor every year, and I
will be there and supporting you. We get local business
as city council members. It's really it's really great.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
So tell us of the So do you have a
certain mix? Tell our viewers and our listeners. So do
you have a mix of businesses or of floats or
of vendors? What can they expect to see physically if
they come there?
Speaker 3 (42:16):
Absolutely? Yeah, If once you arrive to the festival, you'll
see food trucks from around the community with very tasty foods.
Speaker 2 (42:26):
You'll see abi and in and the ideal time to
arrive is well.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
The festival is from eleven am to five pm. Okay,
that's at Center Greens. The car show starts a little
earlier over on Center Street and that is from ten
am to three pm, and they'll have their own set
of vendors. We're kind of seeing the car shows like
(42:52):
the big sister event to the festival. So both our
family friendly and adult friendly, but the car show skews
a little more grown up. There's a beer garden at
the car show, there's you know, our retro singing performers
is more like rockabilly. We have an amazing community member,
Trevor Kelly, who sings sort of like he's like a
(43:14):
Sinatra style crooner. He'll be one of our performers. There's
like a surf rock band that's playing, and then of
course the classic cars, and there's going to be an
award show for the cars and then at the festival itself. Okay,
so yeah, so I was saying. Festival is from eleven
to five, car show is ten to three, and then
(43:37):
the parade starts at seven pm, so it's kind of
open house. Arrive, you know, at your leisure. But usually
folks who are just coming for the festival might come
a little earlier to the festival and spend kind of
the day at the festival. If their local, maybe they'll
go home and come back for the parade. Some folks
(43:58):
like to come later to catch the end tail end
of the festival and then the parade at seven. But
this year there's a lot of you can really spend
the whole day because now we've built out this kind
of campus of the event. You can really fill your
whole day with between the festival, the car show, and
(44:18):
the parade. So yeah, once you arrive, you'll see us.
There's an area of artist vendors and that's local artisans
and artists with goods that are both well, it's always
representative of the season, but it's all you know, we
skew retro kitch to fit the vibe of the event.
(44:41):
We have a few Disney folks who have some fun
Disney halloweeny kind of items and there's a great just
sort of like friends who started a small business doing
vintage Halloween items each year at the so they'll they'll
(45:01):
sort of flip vintage Halloween goods. And then the craft
booths are going to be right near the artist booths
where you can go and work on a building a
pinata or painting a little sculpture. The tiny cinema will
be right there. Then there's also two performance stages for
outdoor performances, and then when the costume contests happen, those
(45:26):
happen on stage as well. We'll also have roaming entertainment,
so Pumpkin Man, who I mentioned before, will be around
for photo ops, and there's like a bubble of you know,
soap bubble group for the kids, and roving like banjo players.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
And then plus of course you can give the chance
to see Charles Phoenix.
Speaker 3 (45:50):
Yes, and so there's Charles Phoenix. And we have other
indoor entertainment too from Bob Baker Marionette Theater.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
Yes, I heard about that. Tell us about that.
Speaker 3 (45:59):
So they're incredible. Bob Baker Marionette Theater, for anyone who
doesn't know, is a true Marionette theater based in Highland
Park neighborhood of LA and they've been around again since
before Disneyland. I believe they have a similar time frame
to the parade. I think they've been around since the
nineteen twenties. I might be wrong on that, but they've
(46:22):
been involved as long as I've been around with the
parade where they'll perform at the festival and then actually
we've had them ride in different floats before where the
marionettes are are hanging out from the trolley and waving
to the crowd.
Speaker 2 (46:40):
And so are they are they large marrionettes parents.
Speaker 3 (46:44):
They're about like I mean, they're bigger than I can
gesture in this frame. Yeah, they're quite large, and they're
that that's a really amazing grassroots kind of small mom
and pop theater that's and going on and is still
going strong. So they're going to be performing in the
(47:05):
auditorium throughout the day as well. There's an event schedule
on the website and we'll have event schedules, physical schedules
on site as well.
Speaker 1 (47:15):
That is exciting. It's a day full of fun for sure, Yes, absolutely,
And we do have food from the beginning.
Speaker 3 (47:23):
And delicious food trucks and we also have a merch
booth for festival merch. So uh, that's that all fundraises
for the event. So we have always had T shirts
in the past, but this year we've tried to expand
our offerings. We have hats and patches. We've had some
patches before, we did enamel pins with Andy anime Everybody's
(47:47):
favorite guy. And then we even have a special higher
end offering this year.
Speaker 2 (47:53):
There.
Speaker 3 (47:56):
Yes, there's an artison goes by the business name of
seam Boat Willie because they do a lot of Disney
inspired things and they're actually based in Utah. If they
come to Anaheim all the time to go to the parks,
they're big fans and one of our volunteers worked directly
(48:17):
with them to create Andy Anaheim charm on a solid
sterling silver fine jewelry charm on a necklace chain. So
we have a limited number of those that are going
to be available at the merch booth at the Fall Festival.
And that's a little bit of like a higher price point,
more collectible, very special item. Yeah, I'm definitely going to
(48:41):
be getting one.
Speaker 2 (48:43):
Fun fun fun.
Speaker 1 (48:45):
So how do you balance the festival's history while keeping
it fresh and engaging for younger audiences.
Speaker 3 (48:54):
Oh, that's a great question, because you know, one of
the things I love about our festival is yes it is.
It's there's not a bunch of modern media and iPads,
and there's there's like actual hands on interactive fun and
kids love it. It must be refreshing, you know. I
(49:17):
imagine there's not a ton of that even available anymore.
That's you know a lot so the craft activities. We
have old fashioned interactive games like uh, like carnival games. Sure,
And this year we're adding like a little croquet Halloween
(49:38):
themed with fun. Yeah, with the artistry design of Roady Montijo,
who's one of our volunteer festival artists who contributes a
lot to the design of parade floats. He's also going
to be one of our artists vendors as usual this year.
He's he's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (49:56):
And do you add new floats? Do people ask if
they can at a float?
Speaker 2 (50:00):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (50:01):
I should mention the floats I've been talking about are
are sort of like hub of floats that the volunteers
of the organization build. But the majority of our parade
is actually entries from the community who build their own
floats or our marching bands. We have a lot of
like school marching bands. You know. Clubs we have car
(50:24):
clubs and roller derby clubs and local organizations who want
to get involved. So so we have our I think
it's like fourteen floats, but then the other you know,
there's there's eighty five entries total. So the rest of
the entries in the parade are all local dance groups
and marching bands and clubs and organizations and you know,
(50:49):
council people. And it's really really builds out what's so
special about the parade?
Speaker 1 (50:57):
And are all of these people I think you earlier
they're not, but just maybe clarify it for us. Are
all of the participants from a vendor and prayed.
Speaker 2 (51:09):
Bands? Floats? Are most of them local? Oh?
Speaker 3 (51:13):
Yes, we really emphasize that. So when I say local,
it can be larger southern California. But the idea is
to showcase our own community and give our own community
the opportunity to be involved.
Speaker 2 (51:27):
Oh that's good.
Speaker 3 (51:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (51:29):
And then do they do audit them? Like do they
have to apply to be afloat?
Speaker 3 (51:34):
They apply? The biggest thing is we just want to
make sure it's on theme, that it's you know, Halloween themed.
But I mean, we have so many clever and amazing entries.
It's really delightful. It's so delightful.
Speaker 1 (51:47):
What are some of them that come to mind that
we're really unique and that you thought, Oh my gosh,
I can't believe they've thought of that.
Speaker 3 (51:54):
I've always loved when the Shriner's Club is involved. Really
they're just you know, on the bicycles with their hats
and they're just always a joy. Yes, we have a
hearse club, like a car club that specifically hearses. So
that's so fun because of course it fits right into
our Halloween theme. And then one of our parade floats
(52:16):
is actually an oversized hearse exaggerated so that tie in
is really great. It had ours has a giant spider
on top with mobile legs that light up and move.
Speaker 1 (52:31):
That's so many unique things we should we need to
have you come back afterwards and kind of do a
recap and tell us, tell us what's going to happen
for next year.
Speaker 2 (52:40):
But in the meantime, we have just a minute left.
Speaker 1 (52:43):
Tell us where can people find the information, how can
they volunteer? Do they have to buy tickets? Where did
they go that you're all ready to go into your event?
Speaker 3 (52:54):
The event is free, free, free to the public, open
to the public. All of the information is at Anaheimfallfestival
dot org. We also have social media where you can
get a lot of information. Links to that are on
our website and on our website, it's a very comprehensive
list of our sponsors, are the organizers, what's happening in
(53:17):
the entertainment schedule. It's your best spot with your one
stop shop for all of the information. Anaheimfallfestival dot org.
Speaker 1 (53:26):
Yes, I think they might be seen as backwards, but
it does say you can see at the top, where's
the car show, yes, Gavner Hunt, how to volunteer and
how to donate if you feel absolutely and there's going to.
Speaker 3 (53:38):
Go on parking. There's info on legit like anything you
need to know is right there.
Speaker 2 (53:43):
So it sounds like this is the place to be
and the date.
Speaker 3 (53:47):
Is and it's this Saturday, October twenty fifth. It always
happens this Saturday before Halloween, so October twenty fifth.
Speaker 2 (53:55):
Ev.
Speaker 1 (53:56):
Thank you so much for your insight, your creativity, and
your love for this this incredible Anaheim tradition and really
Orange County tradition. The Anaheim Fall Festival is more than
just event. We've found that out today. It's a living
piece of community history that continues to evolve.
Speaker 2 (54:12):
Thank you. To people like you, keeping that whimsical.
Speaker 1 (54:15):
Hometown spirit alive, especially in Disneyland in Anaheim, where there
is more than Disneyland for everyone listening for our viewers
and our listeners. If you haven't experienced it yet, market
on your calendars it's this coming Saturday. It's one to
sell Southern California's events that truly captures the magic of connection, creativity,
(54:35):
and community. My Valerie van is over. This is so
Cow with val Thank you very much, Ev for being
our guest today. This is where we celebrate the heart
in the soul of Southern California, one fun story at
a time.
Did you know that Anaheim's been celebrating fall over a century,
long before Disneyland opened its gates. As a matter of fact,
ottomn and Anaheim actually has its own kind of magic.
The leaves may not turn gold like in the Midwest,
but the city comes alive in its own way with
pumpkin patches, crisp evenings, and a century old tradition that
(00:46):
celebrates everything wonderful about fall and community. Anaheim, which is
the largest city in Orange County and it's home to Disneyland,
of course, is famous also for imagination. But long before
Mickey Mouse moved in, there was another kind of magic
taking place right here in Anaheim, the Anaheim Fall Festival.
(01:08):
For more than one hundred years, this festival has captured
the quirky, nostalgic spirit of the season with parades, costume crafts,
and that unmistakable small town feeling in the middle of big,
bustling city.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Today, I'm joined.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
By Evi Yapelli, a creative entrepreneur, artist, and board member
of the Anaheim Fall Festival. Evie brings definitely an insider's
view of how this beloved event has evolved over the
decades she's been in it for a very long time.
Obviously not one hundred years, but she certainly has her
heart and pulse on the history. She's been helping to
(01:48):
keep the heritage and the life of this alive while
adding fresh creative energy from a new generation. And that's
very important. So grab your caramel apple, find a cozy seat,
get a glass of apple cider, and get ready to
fall in love all over again with one of Orange
(02:08):
County's most treasured traditions.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Welcome Yapelli to so caw with Belle.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Thank you so much. Val, What a beautiful introduction to
anyone who isn't familiar with the Anaheim Fall Festival and
Halloween Parade.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
So tell us you are known as a creative entrepreneur.
Tell us a little bit first of all about your
background and what drew you to the Anaheim Fall Festival.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Sure, I am originally from Chicago, Illinois. I grew up
there and went to school there, and after college decided
that I wanted to pursue being a tattoo artist. I
had an art background, and tattooing became specifically interesting to me.
So I did an apprenticeship there and then was about
(02:55):
two years out of my apprenticeship working professionally, and my
husband was working for a company that decided to relocate
to southern California. So of all the places you could relocate,
that's a pretty good option, listen.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
I grew up in that area, so I know what
you traded. You traded snow for sunshine.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Yes, and I love Chicago. Chicago's great, but I mean,
it's true what they say about the weather is true.
And my father is actually from Whittier initially, and then
my aunt still lives in San Diego, so I had
some familiarity with how much I was going to love
southern California, you know. But of course it's hard when
(03:37):
you move across the country to find your people, your community.
So yeah, my husband and I both we had friends,
but it takes a little while to find people. And
then in my own business, I first was working for
other folks, and then in twenty sixteen, I went out
on my own and I opened my own studio called
(03:58):
Shopichin Tattoo. And the best thing about that is it
gave me the opportunity to do more of what I wanted.
I didn't feel so beholden too a boss, you know,
And one of those things, one of those opportunities that
came up was the Fall Festival. I had some artwork
(04:18):
featured in a local article and one of the volunteers
with the event saw it and thought I might be
a good fit to get involved in some way. This
was ten years ago, so they reached out to me
and invited me to check out the parade warehouse. And
I went and saw these amazing parade floats, which are incredible,
(04:41):
like professional quality floats, all built by members of the
community who are volunteering their time and skills. It's incredible.
So it wasn't hard for them to convince me to
get involved.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
That was easy.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Huh yeah, absolutely So the first year in twenty sixteen,
I joined simply as an artist vendor, and it was
pretty small. You know, the event itself has been going
on since nineteen twenty.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Three, isn't that amazing? Nineteen incredible?
Speaker 3 (05:10):
And it had originally began because you know, trigg or
treating is how we know of Halloween these days, but
it wasn't always that way. Right. If we've seen Meet
Me in Saint Louis the movie, there's that great Halloween
scene that shows, you know the way that the kids
used to celebrate is buy more tricks than treats basically,
(05:33):
so kids were opening up windows and basically causing mayhem
in downtown Anaheim in the early nineteen twenties. So a
local merchants association got together and decided that if they
put on an event that would be something for the
kids to do.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
They might behave instead. Yes, exactly, much called dreaming, right, So.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Yeah, everybody loved it. It was a big hit. The next year,
in nineteen twenty four, they added the evening parade, so
then it became the festival and the parade, and then,
as you can imagine, over that time there, it has
grown and changed and vacillated quite a bit. And so
when I first joined there was it was kind of small.
(06:19):
I was one of three artist vendors at the time. Yeah,
and all of those vendors are still vending with us
this year, and it's just grown since then, So the
festival has grown and the footprint actually now this year
we've always been along Center Street in Anaheim, right in
(06:40):
the Center Street promenade, and yeah, exactly, and this year
the festival is going to be just around the corner
at Center Greens Park, which is Yeah, have you been
it's a gorgeous new park. I think it's only about
a year old, and the city built its specific for
(07:00):
these types of events so that it's like a community
gathering space, and it gave us the opportunity to move
the festival over there, which opened up Center Street during
the day for us to bring back the classic car Show,
which had at one time been a part of the festival.
So that's going to be going on just a hop,
(07:22):
skip and jump from the festival. Then the car show
will and the stage will be set for the parade,
which starts at seven pm that evening. So it's basically
just a full day of festival, fun, parade fun, it's
family friendly. It's really an incredible event.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
So fun. Yeah, So.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
What inspired you to become involved as a board member
over time?
Speaker 3 (07:50):
So I started as a vendor and then a couple
of years in it was just so special. It's basically
how my husband and I found this community that we
were looking for having moved from Chicago and not you know,
really finding our place. Once we started vending, even at
(08:11):
that even low level of interaction that was sort of
more like once a year, it just was really special
and we knew there was something cool going on. So
I did a fundraiser, because it's a completely sponsored event.
I did my own tattoo fundraiser at my business, where
I took some of the character designs from the event
(08:35):
and offered them as tattoos and donated the money that
I raised to the event.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Oh that's nice. Yeah, some of those characters. But I mean,
I'm the Our.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Main mascot is Andy Anaheim, and he's not exclusively the
parade mascot. He's the mascot of Anaheim. Do you know
about Andy Anaheim?
Speaker 2 (08:55):
I guess I don't know him well enough.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Yeah, lots of people don't him Andy Anaheim.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
I see him.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Yes, it's an anthropomorphic letter a. He was actually designed
by the Walt Disney Company and gifted to this Anaheim.
It was sort of like a thank you for letting
them open Disneyland.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
So Andy.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Yeah, So Andy has served as the mascot of Anaheim
since the mid fifties. Yeah, and our version of Andy
approved by the city is like it's Andy and his
Halloween regalia. So as Pumpkin our new logo, which is
just a spruced up version of the early logo. He's
(09:43):
got like his playful Witch's Hat and it's Andy. He's
we consider him the band leader of our career. Then
we've got Pumpkin Man, who is of one of our volunteers.
It created this amazing character, Pumpkin Man, and he's a
main event. He'll he roams throughout the festival so you
(10:07):
can get photo ops with him, which is all and
then he marches in the parade. Of course. Of course
we also have bisu Buela is one of our more
recent additions. I think she was added a handful of
years ago. Bisa buelas great grandmother and yeah, our event
(10:29):
in addition to celebrating Halloween and the harvest season in general,
we celebrate Day of the Dead and Bisubuela is our
float parade float representation of that. She's a really amazing, intricate,
gorgeous float, huge, I think she's our tallest float. It's
absolutely overwhelming when you see her, house like striking and
(10:51):
beautiful she is. And one of the coolest things about
Bisa Buela is that it's an interactive float where during
the day at the festival, there's a craft booth that
folks and you know, obviously we're very kid friendly, but
adults love.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
It too, Yes, yes, yes, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
So you go and and volunteer leads you through making
an oregon a butterfly, and then you write the name
of a deceased loved one and follow the butterfly, and
then those are tied to her skirts, so as she
travels the parade route, it's a symbolic representation of releasing
(11:36):
the butterflies in honor deceased loved ones.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Oh that's lovely.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Isn't that special?
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Lovely? Yes? Yes, yes? So is that float the same
every year? Do they build a new one?
Speaker 3 (11:48):
It's the same float, And all of our floats get
kind of spruced up each year. She's in conditioned because
she's one of our more recent additions. But each year
she's tended to beautifully. We have an amazing tears who
have sown her garments, and she has like these incredible
big you know, I don't even know what they're actually
made out, because of course it's not real jewelry. It's
(12:09):
too big, but it's like an enormous like she's got
an enormous ring.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
And beads and a fun she's gorgeous. Absolutely, that's great.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
And so people when people ask you to tattoo them
with Andy Anaheim.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Yes, I've done and Anaheim tattoos absolutely, and in fact
I have one from a friend who is an Anaheim native.
And once I've moved here officially to Anaheim, my first
thought was I can finally get an Andy Anaheim tattoo.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Oh oh that's nice. Yes, interesting.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Yes, So, as you know a little bit about we
have a real estate business here and I'm we managed
vacation aunt properties, and so often people will come in
and say, I've lived here since Disneyland, or this house
was built before Disneyland, or I was here. You know,
(13:06):
I've got the old e tickets from Anaheim and those
kids have been around that long. Well they're not kids now,
but that's really interesting. So much history involved with with Disneyland,
and so.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
You just think that's all it is.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
I don't think of anything else in Anaheim except Disneyland,
which is really interesting because we often talk about what
do people do if they come here and they don't
want to go to Disneyland or they've been.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
There before for whatever reason. What do you advise? Yeah, Well,
so of.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Course the packing house is interesting because even the packing
house for our viewers and our listeners. The packing house
was a place where they actually packed oranges. And there
is a little room there actually where they show the
black and white movies, right, which you wouldn't know about.
It's almost like a little hidden place. And I think
(13:56):
there's a restaurant and there's something like the Hidden Rabbit
or something.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Hm hmm, kind of like to speak easy.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
So that's one place and and so those kind of
things in Anna and that's really you know what it was,
and there's so much history it's and it's it's county's
biggest city, so it's fun to see those things. And absolutely,
and that's at the difference in housing because you have
Anaheim Hills, which is really high end up in the hills,
(14:23):
and then you have the Disneyland, right really the Disneyland
era housing.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Yeah, that's one of the things that the parade. Being
involved in the parade introduced me to Anaheim, especially not
being from southern California, originally, I wasn't aware of things
like the packing house and Center Street promenade and Museo
which is this incredible our galery at museum that I
(14:48):
have since had the opportunity to work with, which is
incredible and it's We've still lived in Costa Mesa actually
when we first got involved with the parade, and it's
what made us want to move to Anaheim because we
didn't like a lot of people. We thought Anaheim's Disneyland,
and there's this entire rich tapestry of creative people that
(15:09):
may in some way be related to Disneyland, but are
you know, totally separate and all this other cool stuff
going on.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
And the city government, to its credit, over the past
several years, Yes, has really spruced up the Disneyland what
we call the resort area with the big palm trees
up and down Katella and making that just a much
nicer looking area. And lots of the new hotels have
(15:37):
come in near the West and and some of the
others that have I think up to the appearance around
the convention center and we have some really large conventions
Expo West that comes every year. Yeahs NA, so Yes
and area.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
I agree.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
It's absolutely beautiful what they've done.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
It is it is. They've done a great job.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
So tell us what are some of the behind the
scenes work that most people just might not realize.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Oh, for sure, the biggest thing that surprises people is
when in April we start talking about going to the
volunteer warehouse and people say, wait what, because imagine any
large event takes a whole year to plan. Yeah, so
(16:24):
our festival season, our planning season, starts generally in April,
the most behind the scenes folks get together and start
talking about, you know, what we're going to do for
the year. Then we have our first warehouse meeting and
talk about, Okay, are we building any new floats, what
floats need to be refurbished? Is there anything you know?
(16:46):
We're we're big on trying to improve the experience every year.
So what hiccups did we have last year that we
can streamline, What new sponsor is interested in, how can
we work with them this year? Because of that move
to Center Greens, we have the opportunity with it's it's
right next to an auditorium essentially, is like on our
(17:08):
campus that now we have Charles Phoenix doing a show
as part of our festival. How cool is that that?
Speaker 2 (17:15):
It's so cooled?
Speaker 1 (17:15):
You know, he was a guest on our show recently,
not a lot of them, and he's quite a character.
So let's just segue a little. Let's take a little
break from from the main theme of the festival. And
let's talk about so what does he do because I
think he he has slides and he does tours and
he tours Los Angeles with the theme of there's Disneyland
(17:38):
in La So what does he what's his role in
the Anahim Festival?
Speaker 3 (17:42):
So he has always been his long I should say,
been a supporter of the festival, and he's ridden in
the parade before and you know he loves kitchen retro
and on our whole like creative direction of our event
is very retro and nostalgic, so it's a perf fit.
And so his shows are so fun. It's it's almost
(18:04):
like a like a Kitschy comedy show where he has
he collects old slides, like just from strangers that he finds.
He has a huge archive of slides and then he
categorizes them and will do a show that's themed. So
what he's done for us in the past as a
fundraiser that I got that I, you know, was lucky
(18:25):
enough to sit in on, was a slide show that
was all Halloween themed. So yes, can you imagine so
fun like people in their in their Halloween costumes in
nineteen fifty seven and what the way they decorated their
lawns and the way their living room looked, and then
of course he does his clever commentary along with everything. Yeah,
(18:48):
it becomes like a whole basically comedy hour where it's
just it's just really delightful and so fun.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Yes, and he is a delightful gentleman. He just can't
get enough creativities viewing out of him.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
He just go more and more and more and more.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
So the behind the scenes work is deciding on the floats.
Now is there a theme, well, the Daniel theme.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
The theme is is always the same, which is to
celebrate Halloween, the harvest season and Day of the Dead.
So we have, you know, an overall color palette. But
a big thing that we try to do is refer
back to the history of the parade. So you know,
parade has been going on since nineteen well, nineteen twenty
(19:34):
four is when the parade started. It's been going on
since then, the year after the festival started. And we
have a ton of amazing archival images of parades past,
particularly at the Historical Society in Anah time. They keep
incredible records that they've allowed us access to to comb
through and we use yeah, we use it for inspirations.
(19:58):
So we've added floats before that. Our direct throwbacks to
a float from say nineteen fifty six, I might beginning
of the year on, but the silver anniversary of the
parade there was a trolley car float. We rebuilt it
a few years ago. Our modern version are it's when
(20:19):
I say modern, it's not like it's futuristic.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Current day version exactly.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Based on the photographs, and we have one of the
fan favorites is the flying Sasser, which originally some young
boys put together a little flying saucer and wrote flying
Sasser on the outside. There's a great black and white
photo from the fifties of them proudly riding in their Sasser.
(20:49):
So the parade staff rebuilt the Sasser and that's and
this year they've actually redone it. It was out of commission
for a while because you know, as we're as we learn,
like what materials are longest lasting? Also, you got it,
you have to weigh so many things of like it
being functional and beautiful, you know. So that's one of
(21:12):
our newly rebuilt floats for this year is the sass
are based on the one from the fifties.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Now, are most of your floats Disney themed?
Speaker 3 (21:20):
No, actually, none of them are. We Disney is an
incredible supporter of ours. They are one. They're one of
our partner level sponsors, along with the city of the
City of Anaheim as a partner level sponsor of Disneyland,
has always been incredible and.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Supportive as they should be.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Certainly, yeah, they're wonderful, but creatively, there's a distinction between
where we don't use their IP, it's our own, you know,
Andy Anaheim is is IP of the city itself, and
they because we're a sponsored event, they loan us his usage.
And yet all the other characters have been created actually
(21:56):
by creative volunteers, primarily Jody Daily, who does have a
history as working for Disneyland. Now he's a more freelance
than anything, but he had been our creative lead for
a very long time, and I came in this year
helping with I had sort of worked alongside him, as
(22:17):
you know, I was in the the vending spot. Then
I started volunteering at the parade warehouse and really just
was enchanted by it. So he got me involved more.
He brought me out of the board to kind of
help make a consistent branding out of this beautiful work
that he had created over the years, which is also
(22:37):
kind of a celebration of the history of the parade
over the last hundred years.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
And is this a full time job for you?
Speaker 3 (22:46):
No, this is all on the side.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
All of us are volunteers. We all have day jobs
and then do this on the side. So it takes
a village, which.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
I know it does. I know it does.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
So we told us a little bit about how it
began was because there needs some activities for the kids
to make them behave That's not exactly what you said,
but that's kind of yeah, that was kind of the
original purpose something of But Anaheim has changed so much
through the decades. How has the festival managed to stay
(23:23):
relevant and still change?
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Yes, that's a great point. The festival has changed quite
a bit over the years with the city. The Initially
it was a local merchant, grassroots kind of production. At
a certain point it did become more put on by
the city, but then you know, there's budgets and funding
(23:49):
and things. Of course, can only say it consistent for
so long. When it goes over one hundred years, there's
going to be some ab and flow, you know. Yes,
So around twenty twelve was when it got kind of
revitalized by a new group of city volunteers, community volunteers
who said, we really want to refurbish this back to
(24:12):
its its heyday, back to its glory. And I feel
like they've done an incredible job of that that was
a little before my time. And then I came on
board and got to be part of that, which is incredible. Really, that's,
you know, the how do we stay relevant. It's really
about listening to the community and interacting with the community
(24:35):
and making the community part of the show. A big
thing we want to do is it's become even though
it's you know, it's volunteer based, so it's a lot
of work to ask of folks, but it's also at
opportunity for businesses, sponsors, vendors who participate, and so we
always want to basically pour it back into our own community.
(25:00):
Any vendors that we have are Southern California based and
Anaheim first outlying Orange County and then greater southern California.
Even our main partner level sponsors, our local Disneyland city
of Anaheim, the Ducks OC Vibe they are large corporations,
(25:24):
but they're local and specific to our interests. And then
we have a ton of sponsors. The bulk of our
sponsors are made up of lower fundraising amounts that local
businesses provide. And it's really special because our sponsorships range
anywhere from one thousand dollars to ten thousand dollars. Yeah,
(25:48):
so there's really a chance for local businesses to get
involved and that keeps us relevant by constantly communicating with
our own community to output an event that's what they want,
what they want to experience and enjoy.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
And how do you know what they want? Do they
give you feedback?
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Do you have Absolutely, we have direct feedback at the
events and in between the events through social media. But
we actually have data collection too, where we have surveys
that we put out. So anyone going to the festival
this year, keep an eye out. There's a QR code.
There will be a QR code. I think they're hanging
out at the merch booth on cards and you can
(26:26):
fill out a survey because we want to know, you know,
what did you love? What would you love? This is
very much out of just the excitement of it for
the community. It's a nonprofit, so we're not trying to
get rich at it. We're just trying to provide a
great event for our very own community.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
To any particular decades or eras or years stand out.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
Oh, I personally, I love the earliest era, the twenties
because that's with when the AID started. There's really amazing images.
But then there's a lot of great archival footage of
the from the fifties. That's i'd say, what a lot
of our floats throwback to, because that was when the
(27:15):
parade kind of took a new life of creativity and
sort of got bigger. So there's some incredible archival images
of like early floats. One of the floats that has
been redone that's are a classic standard now is from
the fifties and it's the Rocket Witch and Oline a
(27:38):
beautiful woman singing on a rocket. So originally it was
a you know, community member and they made a space
themed sort of atomic you know, fifty sixties atomic.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Style, right and style. Yeah, yeah, Jackson's absolutely yes.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
And she sits on it and you know, waves looks
just like a gorgeous witch on a rocket. And we
have a local community member, Amber Fox, who is a performer.
She has a beautiful retro look to her, vibrant red
hair like the original rocket Witch, and several years ago
(28:20):
she became our modern day rocket Witch.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Oh okay, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
It's fantastic. She is very glamorous in that wonderful back
style and she actually sings and performs while she's on
the float. And this year at the car show, she'll
be performing on stage along Center Street promenade during the
car show.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Wow, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Cool. So and how long has she been involved in
the festival?
Speaker 3 (28:50):
You know, I think she's been there. She's definitely been
there as long as I have possibly before, so at
least ten years, maybe twelve long yeah, possibly longer.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
What are some of the most beloved traditions that still
carry on today?
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Are there any?
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Yeah? You know, the festival has craft booths which are
really special. Those are some of the things that are
sponsored by different local businesses. So some of the crafts change.
But the one I had mentioned before is the bias
of Wela craft of making the butterflies, So that's that's right.
(29:31):
And then there's like a Pinata drafting booth which is
really special. It's the La Pinnata design studio and they
were one of the vendors along with me that first
year that there were just three of us. And they're
just a wonderful I believe, third generation mom and pop
(29:53):
pinata making business, and they sell small pinadas at the event,
but they also have crafts for kids and and grown
up kids too. Can can make a pinada by hand
right there at the table and decorate. Yeah, it's very cool.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
And then they sell the stuffings for inside of it also,
or you have to take it into your local candy
star and fil you just.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
Take your local candy store. Although this year we have
a tiny cinema, the Tiny Cinema, which is another feature,
and they're sponsored by uh the Santa Ana Art House Theater,
the Freeda, and they're going to have the concessions. So
I suppose you can make your pinata and then go
over to the concession stand and just pour your candy
and popcorn right into it.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Yes, And the Freda is just a charming venue.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
It's wonderful. Yeah. So we so for a couple of
years now we've had at the festival this thing called
Tiny Cinema, which a fellow.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Named Davy B.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
Gravy puts on and it's basically it's a lot like
what you were saying is at the packing house, but
it's mobile, so it's like a small trailer that shows
silent movies. Oh yeah, so that'll be there. And then
the Freedom is sponsoring because of of course the like
minded love of film and historical film. Yes, absolutely, so
(31:15):
that's been a great new partnership that we've we've had.
We started with the Tiny s NIM last year and
then we're really excited to have them back this year.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Are there any hidden mistakes or secrets that happened that
people would never know about? Guards there are, well, I hidden.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
When you said hidden, that made me think to mention
the scavenger hunt, which is a will.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Tell us yes, because we have this at this flyer
which Karen's gonna.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Help.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Karen's going to show it talks about this scavenger hunt,
so tell us about it.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
So that started. It was actually a COVID inspired inspiration
because during the years of COVID, we couldn't have the
festival the way that we usually did because of course
you don't want to be interacting that close with that
larger group of people. So one of the creative solutions
that came out of that was a parade of float
scavenger Hunt, where the idea is that you know, tricksters
(32:15):
have hidden the floats around the downtown and you get
a little passport. You start at one of the stops
and you go and you find the different floats and
you get stamps on your passport for each float, and
then you turn it in at the end and you're
entered to win two tickets to Disneyland. So it's a
(32:38):
very popular feature, is the scavenger Where.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Were the floats positioned? Were they throughout the city.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
Throughout the downtown area? Yeah, I can't get too specific
because it's a secret, of course, but but you don't
have to walk far. It's all within the sort of
the campus of the event.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
But how did that help during COVID, because we weren't instead.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
Of having all like gathering one.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Spot, oh icye the crowding out.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
To separate it wasn't you know, don't I don't believe
we did it in twenty twenty, but like in following
years when we were still a little cautious, it was
a way to spread the crowd out so that it
wasn't that I concentrated.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
I see, well that's a great idea.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Yeah, and then it was so popular we kept it going,
you know, and kept it growing.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
And it started just during the COVID.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Yeah, that one was probably in It would have been
twenty twenty one or twenty twenty two, I believe.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
Oh what a great idea.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Yeah, because everybody loves a scavenger hunt anyway, absolutely, or
who doesn't want to go and have some mystery.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
And some secrets.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
So what are some of the unexpected behind the scene moments?
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Ooh, well, like.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
A float isn't ready on time, or we have there
were he's supposed to be, or.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
You're reminding me that. Yes, So I had mentioned earlier
that we the Sasser was rebuilt this year, and I'm
remembering now that I believe the reason is because it
careened off of the trailer that it was carrying it
to the parade a few years back. So there's I mean,
there's certain things. It's it's it's actually amazing that everything
(34:19):
goes right most of the time.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
So of course you have an experienced committee. I'm sure
that you do a great job.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
Yes, absolutely, it's any large event like this, it's about adaptability, right, not.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Not how absolutely, because you could have rained, you could
have a wind, you could have you know, somebody crashes
their car into one of the you know, displayed something.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Who knows, right, So.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
Yeah, we have hiccups here and there and logistic issues
and and the the nice thing is it seems that
we've always managed to keep that away from the public,
where the public still sees it all this perfect wonderful
event that they didn't even think anything could have possibly.
You know, it's like it's like the Disneyland magic of you.
(35:07):
You want to hide everything backstage. That's sort of our
philosophy too, is like they don't need to know about
those a little bit. All they need to do is
see the magic. Keep it mad.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Absolutely, absolutely absolutely, And I'm sure that that happens at Disneyland,
where that's just something's going on and okay, well we're
just going to light these fireworks and nobody will ever
know right, rack them, show up, pray moving, and turn
the music on right and everything will be just fine.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Yes, absolutely, fad.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
The festival is known for its nostalgia whimsical vibe. So
how would you describe its personality?
Speaker 3 (35:46):
Oh, I feel it's it's we always say spooky not scary,
and you know it's it's very Halloween, but not in
a scary way, not in a gory way. And also
an important thing. I think we are definitely kid friendly,
but that doesn't mean you have to be a kid
to enjoy it. Yes, you know, I's.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Good for those of us who are a little bit
older kids age exactly.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
I myself, I don't have kids, and I the kid
in me is just as excited to go to the event,
you know as my friends who have kids who see
it through their eyes.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Yes, definitely. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
And actually one of the fun things we have is
we have costume contests as part of the festival, and
there's a kiddy costume contest, so kids dress up and
sometimes there's a category where it's like a family costume too.
Oh and then we have a doggy costume contest.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Of course you absolutely must have a dog done.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
So one of my favorite traditions is throughout the day
you see kids and dogs in clever, amazing homemade costumes
walking around the festival. It's my favorite thing.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Of course. Yeah. Fun.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Are there any unique or only in Anaheim features that
give the festival its signature localture arm.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
That's a great question. That is one of the things
that we try to do, particularly with the artist vendors
that we have good We try to we try to
curate a team of vendors that you don't just see
at any kind of street festival. They might be artisans
who do other street festivals, but it's not like your
(37:28):
typical kind of thing that you would find at a
street fair. We try to find that are very unique
and artists and made and so that it's like this
this collection of things you really are only getting access
to once a year at this event.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Well, that's one of the questions I have is how
do local artists and makers contribute to keeping that quirky
energy alive?
Speaker 3 (37:52):
Oh yeah, that's such an important part of it. You know,
it's certainly not the only part of it, because especially
as we've expanded, to have a lot more more live
performances and more room for craft booths and things, which
is phenomenal. But I think that the heart of it
is really the local artists. Oh yeah, both the ones
(38:13):
who volunteer like me, and also the ones who come
in as vendors like me also because I'm a vendor
as well. But we do things where we try to
tie in with our vendors. Like a couple of years
ago was the one hundredth anniversary. This year is the
one hundred and third festival and one hundred and second parade.
(38:35):
So a few years ago we had a two year
long centennial celebrating. Yeah, and one of the things, one
of the many things we did to celebrate was one
of our vendor artists, Gus James, who is like an
unofficial mayor of Anaheim. Is the joke with among folks
who know him because he was born and raised here
(38:57):
and just loves it and is a big supporter of
all the businesses and works here, and he's one of
our artist vendors. So he donated his design skills on
a T shirt that celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of
the other That's beautiful, So that is actually still available
on our website. That's one of these the designs you
(39:21):
can get through our web store if anyone's interested. It
was a really popular design, so we kept it around
in the webshop.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
Well, we know you've talked about how important the community
is to be to the heart of this event, So
how does how do you the board members collaborate with
local organizations, schools, and businesses. How do you get this
businesses to participate and still kind of keep them in
line with your theme and your goal, and how do
you get people to come.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
Absolutely one of the ways that makes that, you know,
kind of easy, is that the board members are all
members of the community, and because it's a volunteer board,
we're also business people who have jobs and have, if
not owning our own businesses, have worked with other local businesses.
(40:11):
So there are neighbors. You know, a lot of the
small businesses in Anaheim. The folks live in Anaheim too,
So it's really as simple as even just having conversations
with the owner of the restaurant you go to on
a regular basis. And a lot of our sponsors have
been sponsoring for years. Then we try to always when
(40:33):
new businesses arrive, we again because we're interested in our
own community, we go out, we check them out, and
we tell them about, hey, there's this event. And one
of the cool things that I love so much is
our folks on the board who work in sponsorship specifically,
they work to kind of pair the sponsorship with the sponsor. So,
(40:58):
for example, I had mentioned before the Tiny Cinema is
sponsored by the Freeo Cinema. Yes, the Basubuela float is
sponsored by Higginfield Mortuary.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
Oh, I saw that they were as sponsors, and now
I know what the connection is.
Speaker 2 (41:13):
Great idea, isn't that great?
Speaker 3 (41:16):
So it's those kinds of tie ins where not only
do we try to find a sponsor who we love,
but we try to pair them with something that feels
authentic down in their business.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Yes, of course, of course, yes, you must do that.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
And then I would guess that there's some businesses that
like they just feel the need to be.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
Involved, right like, if this is happening, I need to
be in it. And that's the idea, right absolutely.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
And there are folks who are like, this is my
float that I want to sponsor every year, and I
will be there and supporting you. We get local business
as city council members. It's really it's really great.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
So tell us of the So do you have a
certain mix? Tell our viewers and our listeners. So do
you have a mix of businesses or of floats or
of vendors? What can they expect to see physically if
they come there?
Speaker 3 (42:16):
Absolutely? Yeah, If once you arrive to the festival, you'll
see food trucks from around the community with very tasty foods.
Speaker 2 (42:26):
You'll see abi and in and the ideal time to
arrive is well.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
The festival is from eleven am to five pm. Okay,
that's at Center Greens. The car show starts a little
earlier over on Center Street and that is from ten
am to three pm, and they'll have their own set
of vendors. We're kind of seeing the car shows like
(42:52):
the big sister event to the festival. So both our
family friendly and adult friendly, but the car show skews
a little more grown up. There's a beer garden at
the car show, there's you know, our retro singing performers
is more like rockabilly. We have an amazing community member,
Trevor Kelly, who sings sort of like he's like a
(43:14):
Sinatra style crooner. He'll be one of our performers. There's
like a surf rock band that's playing, and then of
course the classic cars, and there's going to be an
award show for the cars and then at the festival itself. Okay,
so yeah, so I was saying. Festival is from eleven
to five, car show is ten to three, and then
(43:37):
the parade starts at seven pm, so it's kind of
open house. Arrive, you know, at your leisure. But usually
folks who are just coming for the festival might come
a little earlier to the festival and spend kind of
the day at the festival. If their local, maybe they'll
go home and come back for the parade. Some folks
(43:58):
like to come later to catch the end tail end
of the festival and then the parade at seven. But
this year there's a lot of you can really spend
the whole day because now we've built out this kind
of campus of the event. You can really fill your
whole day with between the festival, the car show, and
(44:18):
the parade. So yeah, once you arrive, you'll see us.
There's an area of artist vendors and that's local artisans
and artists with goods that are both well, it's always
representative of the season, but it's all you know, we
skew retro kitch to fit the vibe of the event.
(44:41):
We have a few Disney folks who have some fun
Disney halloweeny kind of items and there's a great just
sort of like friends who started a small business doing
vintage Halloween items each year at the so they'll they'll
(45:01):
sort of flip vintage Halloween goods. And then the craft
booths are going to be right near the artist booths
where you can go and work on a building a
pinata or painting a little sculpture. The tiny cinema will
be right there. Then there's also two performance stages for
outdoor performances, and then when the costume contests happen, those
(45:26):
happen on stage as well. We'll also have roaming entertainment,
so Pumpkin Man, who I mentioned before, will be around
for photo ops, and there's like a bubble of you know,
soap bubble group for the kids, and roving like banjo players.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
And then plus of course you can give the chance
to see Charles Phoenix.
Speaker 3 (45:50):
Yes, and so there's Charles Phoenix. And we have other
indoor entertainment too from Bob Baker Marionette Theater.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
Yes, I heard about that. Tell us about that.
Speaker 3 (45:59):
So they're incredible. Bob Baker Marionette Theater, for anyone who
doesn't know, is a true Marionette theater based in Highland
Park neighborhood of LA and they've been around again since
before Disneyland. I believe they have a similar time frame
to the parade. I think they've been around since the
nineteen twenties. I might be wrong on that, but they've
(46:22):
been involved as long as I've been around with the
parade where they'll perform at the festival and then actually
we've had them ride in different floats before where the
marionettes are are hanging out from the trolley and waving
to the crowd.
Speaker 2 (46:40):
And so are they are they large marrionettes parents.
Speaker 3 (46:44):
They're about like I mean, they're bigger than I can
gesture in this frame. Yeah, they're quite large, and they're
that that's a really amazing grassroots kind of small mom
and pop theater that's and going on and is still
going strong. So they're going to be performing in the
(47:05):
auditorium throughout the day as well. There's an event schedule
on the website and we'll have event schedules, physical schedules
on site as well.
Speaker 1 (47:15):
That is exciting. It's a day full of fun for sure, Yes, absolutely,
And we do have food from the beginning.
Speaker 3 (47:23):
And delicious food trucks and we also have a merch
booth for festival merch. So uh, that's that all fundraises
for the event. So we have always had T shirts
in the past, but this year we've tried to expand
our offerings. We have hats and patches. We've had some
patches before, we did enamel pins with Andy anime Everybody's
(47:47):
favorite guy. And then we even have a special higher
end offering this year.
Speaker 2 (47:53):
There.
Speaker 3 (47:56):
Yes, there's an artison goes by the business name of
seam Boat Willie because they do a lot of Disney
inspired things and they're actually based in Utah. If they
come to Anaheim all the time to go to the parks,
they're big fans and one of our volunteers worked directly
(48:17):
with them to create Andy Anaheim charm on a solid
sterling silver fine jewelry charm on a necklace chain. So
we have a limited number of those that are going
to be available at the merch booth at the Fall Festival.
And that's a little bit of like a higher price point,
more collectible, very special item. Yeah, I'm definitely going to
(48:41):
be getting one.
Speaker 2 (48:43):
Fun fun fun.
Speaker 1 (48:45):
So how do you balance the festival's history while keeping
it fresh and engaging for younger audiences.
Speaker 3 (48:54):
Oh, that's a great question, because you know, one of
the things I love about our festival is yes it is.
It's there's not a bunch of modern media and iPads,
and there's there's like actual hands on interactive fun and
kids love it. It must be refreshing, you know. I
(49:17):
imagine there's not a ton of that even available anymore.
That's you know a lot so the craft activities. We
have old fashioned interactive games like uh, like carnival games. Sure,
And this year we're adding like a little croquet Halloween
(49:38):
themed with fun. Yeah, with the artistry design of Roady Montijo,
who's one of our volunteer festival artists who contributes a
lot to the design of parade floats. He's also going
to be one of our artists vendors as usual this year.
He's he's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (49:56):
And do you add new floats? Do people ask if
they can at a float?
Speaker 2 (50:00):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (50:01):
I should mention the floats I've been talking about are
are sort of like hub of floats that the volunteers
of the organization build. But the majority of our parade
is actually entries from the community who build their own
floats or our marching bands. We have a lot of
like school marching bands. You know. Clubs we have car
(50:24):
clubs and roller derby clubs and local organizations who want
to get involved. So so we have our I think
it's like fourteen floats, but then the other you know,
there's there's eighty five entries total. So the rest of
the entries in the parade are all local dance groups
and marching bands and clubs and organizations and you know,
(50:49):
council people. And it's really really builds out what's so
special about the parade?
Speaker 1 (50:57):
And are all of these people I think you earlier
they're not, but just maybe clarify it for us. Are
all of the participants from a vendor and prayed.
Speaker 2 (51:09):
Bands? Floats? Are most of them local? Oh?
Speaker 3 (51:13):
Yes, we really emphasize that. So when I say local,
it can be larger southern California. But the idea is
to showcase our own community and give our own community
the opportunity to be involved.
Speaker 2 (51:27):
Oh that's good.
Speaker 3 (51:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (51:29):
And then do they do audit them? Like do they
have to apply to be afloat?
Speaker 3 (51:34):
They apply? The biggest thing is we just want to
make sure it's on theme, that it's you know, Halloween themed.
But I mean, we have so many clever and amazing entries.
It's really delightful. It's so delightful.
Speaker 1 (51:47):
What are some of them that come to mind that
we're really unique and that you thought, Oh my gosh,
I can't believe they've thought of that.
Speaker 3 (51:54):
I've always loved when the Shriner's Club is involved. Really
they're just you know, on the bicycles with their hats
and they're just always a joy. Yes, we have a
hearse club, like a car club that specifically hearses. So
that's so fun because of course it fits right into
our Halloween theme. And then one of our parade floats
(52:16):
is actually an oversized hearse exaggerated so that tie in
is really great. It had ours has a giant spider
on top with mobile legs that light up and move.
Speaker 1 (52:31):
That's so many unique things we should we need to
have you come back afterwards and kind of do a
recap and tell us, tell us what's going to happen
for next year.
Speaker 2 (52:40):
But in the meantime, we have just a minute left.
Speaker 1 (52:43):
Tell us where can people find the information, how can
they volunteer? Do they have to buy tickets? Where did
they go that you're all ready to go into your event?
Speaker 3 (52:54):
The event is free, free, free to the public, open
to the public. All of the information is at Anaheimfallfestival
dot org. We also have social media where you can
get a lot of information. Links to that are on
our website and on our website, it's a very comprehensive
list of our sponsors, are the organizers, what's happening in
(53:17):
the entertainment schedule. It's your best spot with your one
stop shop for all of the information. Anaheimfallfestival dot org.
Speaker 1 (53:26):
Yes, I think they might be seen as backwards, but
it does say you can see at the top, where's
the car show, yes, Gavner Hunt, how to volunteer and
how to donate if you feel absolutely and there's going to.
Speaker 3 (53:38):
Go on parking. There's info on legit like anything you
need to know is right there.
Speaker 2 (53:43):
So it sounds like this is the place to be
and the date.
Speaker 3 (53:47):
Is and it's this Saturday, October twenty fifth. It always
happens this Saturday before Halloween, so October twenty fifth.
Speaker 2 (53:55):
Ev.
Speaker 1 (53:56):
Thank you so much for your insight, your creativity, and
your love for this this incredible Anaheim tradition and really
Orange County tradition. The Anaheim Fall Festival is more than
just event. We've found that out today. It's a living
piece of community history that continues to evolve.
Speaker 2 (54:12):
Thank you. To people like you, keeping that whimsical.
Speaker 1 (54:15):
Hometown spirit alive, especially in Disneyland in Anaheim, where there
is more than Disneyland for everyone listening for our viewers
and our listeners. If you haven't experienced it yet, market
on your calendars it's this coming Saturday. It's one to
sell Southern California's events that truly captures the magic of connection, creativity,
(54:35):
and community. My Valerie van is over. This is so
Cow with val Thank you very much, Ev for being
our guest today. This is where we celebrate the heart
in the soul of Southern California, one fun story at
a time.
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