RENEE LEE: Dear Lambert Lane pedestrians: I know ya’ll aren’t used to stop lights in Boonville and all but when the light is red, that means you too. Believe me, I walk it every evening with my dog. It’s dark and the other cars can’t see around to the other side of the temporary bridge so I wait for the light. It really doesn’t take that long. I am really glad the car that had the green light saw the family with small children in time so I didn’t have to witness your family mowed over on the bridge. That would’ve been a tragic end to fair weekend. This also goes for the cars that get impatient and run the light .I’ve almost been hit in my car from red light runners.
JEFF BURROUGHS:
My great grandfather, Harwood June.
Mendocino County Fair and Apple Show history .
In 1937 Mr. Harwood June traveled to Sacramento to convince the powers that be to give the award of “Mendocino County Fair” to the Anderson Valley Apple Show. After some entertaining conversation, a few cigars and a hardy handshake, Mr. June had warmed over and thoroughly convinced the Sacramento State Capitol boys to make Boonville the site for the Mendocino County Fair. As Harwood was leaving the capitol building that afternoon, with signed and notarized papers in hand, he passed the Ukiah delegation running up the steps on their way to disappointment. When Ukiah later found out that the little town of Boonville had “aced them out” they were outraged and to this day they haven’t gotten over it.
Along the back side of the race track field there used to be a number of horse barns and corrals where visiting horses and riders would “bed down” during the course of the fair weekend.There was another fellow who used one of the horse barns during the fair weekend. He was a professional clown of sorts that participated annually in the fair parade. It seems this clown had a very interesting supporting cast in a strange but amusing crow and an equally entertaining goose. The crow was well trained and it used to hop about the ground and up into the lap of anyone holding a food item which kept the curious crowd entertained the entire fair weekend.
When it came time for the parade on Sunday, the clown, his goose and the little black crow became the center of attention because the crow, who was now standing up in the front of a tiny red wagon, was being pulled along by the goose. It must have been a hilarious sight to see as the crow, with a tiny ,white, straw hat on his little bird head and tiny leather reins strapped around its shoulders and wings, guided the goose and wagon through the crowded main streets of Boonville. The local children would run alongside the wagon, laughing and yelling, “Talk Mr. Crow, Talk!!”, the Crow would answer back with a “caw-caw !!” , first to its left and then over to its right, sending the crowd into hysterics. It was said that for weeks after the parade and fair weekend had passed, Boonville youths could be found dangling from just about every low limned oak tree growing in the Anderson Valley, in a desperate search for baby crows in nests to train to talk and maybe even drive a little wagon.
One night, back at the race track barn, the clowns trained crow had become an issue of serious concern and a major nuisance with its indiscriminate bird droppings and constant cackling at all hours of the night. The other occupants of the barn that night were the remains of a small group of tired and dusty old rodeo cowboys who seriously considered “doing the bird in”, so the clown and his birds quickly loaded up their stuff into the tiny Ford Model T Miniature car that they had arrived in and made a quick getaway into the night, never to be seen again.
In 1941, the Fair ranked fifth in the State of California for the number of entries, and since that date the Mendocino County Fair and Apple Show has been thought of as one of the last, true country fairs.
Photo #1 is of my great grandfather, Harwood James June when he was Justice of the Peace and the Apple Show Chairman.
Photo #2 is Harwood June in his apple orchard looking at A.V.’s first dwarf apple trees that he planted a few years earlier. Harwood passed away not long after this photo was taken in 1967.
THE APPLE SHOW IN BOONVILLE
In the fall of 1925, at a farm center meeting, Chester Estell brought up the matter of a putting together a community celebration for the fourth of July. Everyone at the meeting agreed that Anderson Valley should have some kind of community celebration but the Idea of sparklers, roman candles and bottle rockets being carelessly tossed around in such a dry environment was not the type of one day only celebration that the struggling 3 year old organization had in mind. It was suggested by someone that perhaps the successful Cloverdale Citrus Fair and the Sebastopol Apple Show be a model for consideration, so in the spring of 1926 some of the members traveled down to the Citrus Fair in Cloverdale to take a look at the beautiful agricultural displays and get an idea of how the whole operation worked. The members were quite impressed by the success achieved at the annual Cloverdale agricultural fair and so it was decided that the 4th of July celebration idea be dropped and a celebration of agriculture be adopted and that is how the Anderson Valley Apple Show took form.
At that time my great grandfather, Mr. Harwood June, was the Farm Center chairman and along with the approval of the other Farm Center directors they appointed Donald McIntosh as the first manager.
Enthusiasm began to build however the lingering question of an appropriate location needed to be addressed and a solution was soon found through the generosity of Mr. “Doc” Caldwell who agreed to sell an acre and a half of his property that was located near the center of Boonville. Money was tight so the fledgling Farm Center asked Mr. Caldwell if he would take payment for the land after the fair and he agreed. The people of the valley donated money and in no time the farm center had collected $650, which was a substantial amount for those days. The first building was started with volunteers and donated lumber and when it was completed the farm center had a building 100 feet long and 60 feet wide. The dance floor was 40 x 60 with a small stage and the remaining space was given to the exhibits.
The first farm exhibit (a three farm feature exhibit) was made by Harwood June, Sam McAbee and Jack Fenton and as it was the only feature exhibit entered in that first year of the Fair and Apple Show, it won the 1st place award for most artistic, original design and arrangement of booth. Montgomery Ward graciously donated the award trophy that was a beautifully engraved pewter silver clad trophy cup which can be seen today in the glass case at the main office of the fairgrounds in Boonville.
The following year the Fair and Apple Show property was expanded to take in all of the original “Doc” Caldwell property that ran from the Caldwell home, (still standing and owned today by Mr. Gary Johnson) near Lambert Lane, to the junction of hwy 253 & hwy 128.
In 1936 horse racing was legalized in the state of California making way for the much needed funding for the fair to continue. The area for the 1st race track was located just west of the junction of highway 253 and highway 128, just south of Boonville. Consisting of about 5 + acres the land had been donated to the Fair and Apple Show by Mr. Edward Singley, a long time resident of Bell Valley. The horse races were actually sponsored by the State of California in the early years of the apple show that created a great deal of excitement for the residents of Anderson Valley. At one of these races a young man by the name of Delmar June entered his horse, much to the delight of the locals of Boonville. Delmar’s horse was as fast as greased lighting but it seems that it had been deemed an outlaw and too wild to ride. The horse had gotten this reputation because of an incident at one of the race tracks in the Bay Area where the wild horse had killed the jockey. The horse had been sold and put out to pasture at Mr. Hotel’s ranch just south of Boonville where Delmar June saw the horse streaking through the brushy meadows faster than anything that had ever run at the race track. Delmar begged and pleaded with his father, Harwood June, to buy the horse and after some time Harwood finally relented and paid the $25 for the wild horse.
Delmar was just a little too big to ride against the other , smaller and light jockeys so Delmar enlisted the help of a young black man ( probably Albert or George Jeans ) who was the right size and weight to ride the horse. The first day of racing at the track was on a Saturday and as Delmar and the young jockey readied their horse for the first race, into the arena came the most beautiful, slim legged and obviously well trained horses ever seen at the Boonville race track.
All day Saturday Delmar, his wild horse and timed young jockey were beaten soundly in every race and by the time Sunday rolled around, the odds on Delmar’s horse had risen to 100 to 1. Deciding that the jockey wasn’t using the horse to its full potential, young Delmar June saddled his horse with a big heavy high horned saddle and climbed up on it himself. The professional riders snickered at the young inexperienced Delmar as they all lined up at the starting gate.
A member of the Rawles family, having been up most of the night and still a little high, plopped down $5 dollars on Delmar and his so called wild horse. Holding a drink in one hand,and a hearty “thumbs up” with the other, the bell chimed and they were off. Delmar’s horse spooked and made a few circles in the dust before he could get it going down the track. To this day, people say there had never been so much screaming at the race track as when Delmar and his $25 wild horse rounded the first turn he had already caught up to the pack, and by the time they had reached the second turn Delmar was quickly gaining ground, weaving through the pack of well groomed and expensive horses. Then down the stretch they all came ,the crowd yelling louder and louder, the horses going faster and faster but as the checkered flag waved over the finish line, it was Delmar and his $25 horse that had won by a good 4 or 5 lengths! The crowd went wild and Mr. Rawles collected the largest amount of winnings ever recorded at the race track in Boonville.
FROM EBAY, a photograph of local interest
Anderson Valley High (or in this case, “Hi”) School, circa 1930.
CETAN BLUESKY: I have several Steller Jays all at the same time in my feeders throughout the day. They see me every morning fill up the feeders and announce that breakfast is ready quite loudly. Then about six fly down and start grabbing eats before I am away more than a few feet. After a few minutes of snatch and grab with great noise they fly back from whence they came. Chickadees are next. About a dozen or so. Once the Chickadees are present the Finches and Meadow Larks and other lovelies present themselves. All the while the Steller Jay’s above are making a great racket. The Crows and Ravens have their feeder and zone. I pick up the gifts of colored glass and bits of tin foil they leave me every morning. One of the Ravens enjoys his Little Smokey sausages so much it leaves me pennies! They are all a fine blend of me flying cousins. I appreciate them all so very much.
DAVID EYSTER: An Anderson Valley sort of day. Sheep dog finals in the morning. Only one dog got his/her three sheep through and into all of the obstacles. Walk-through of fair. Sandwiches from Lemon’s Market in Philo. Picnic at Navarro Winery. Soft serve at Jumbo’s. Cheese shopping at Pennyroyal Farm. Up and over the hill and back to Ukiah.
ELIZABETH KNIGHT: Reporting from the DeepEnd; Times are changing in good ol’ Navarro. A usually very calm and quiet town is now robust with the sounds of change, chainsaws, and excavators moving dirt. The Amphitheatre is getting torn down, a place where people from all over gathered to enjoy great concerts from the likes of Johnny Winter and Charlie Musselwhite, Pink Floyd tribute bands with laser shows, to Guitar Shorty and Willie G, to John Lee Hooker Jr and Subdudes to the Black Horse Blues Band. Beautiful memories were made. People around town say that it will be made into a flower garden, which should be nice and bring life back to the Amphitheatre site and make beautiful memories once again. Nothing stays the same. Change can be scary for us small town folk, but it also can be exciting and bring in new life to a quiet little town
AV PANTHER SOCCER takes the win in Tech 4-1.
CATHY AYERS STANLEY: It is with deep regret that I inform all of you that my Aunt Rita Ayers Skillman passed away on her birthday. At this time there will be no service or burial. I will let you know if that changes. I should add that Uncle Richard is dealing with the loss as well as can be. I loved her greatly and will miss her so much. Love you Aunt Rita
NORM CLOW:
Wonderful people. Rita’s dad, George, married my older cousin and next-door neighbor Jean Clow Humphreys later in life. Always enjoyed seeing them when they were in the Valley.
Be First to Comment