Annual festival yields large crowds, animates Old Town Clovis

For over 40 years, Old Town Clovis has been the annual location for many events. ClovisFest has grown from a small craft fair into a full blown attraction encompassing eight blocks. This year, ClovisFest was held Saturday through Sunday, from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. at its customary location on Pollasky Ave, Sept. 19-20.

Within those eight blocks visitors can enjoy the hundreds of craft and commercial booths, ranging from homemade products to small food vendors. They can also enjoy a variety of foods while listening to local bands that are performing throughout the festival. There are many other activities for family and friends at ClovisFest, including the Don Mauer Carnival, No Surrender laser tag and the hot air balloon Fun Fly.  

ClovisFest is also an important day for many local vendors. Sam Yang, who works at Benny’s Italian Ice, believes presentation is very important on days like these. One of her favorite things is seeing people experience ClovisFest for the first time.

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“ClovisFest is unique because of the diversity of the participants,” Yang said. “We have tons of people come out and it’s great to see the community come together. When it come to events like these I think that you have to take into consideration setting up, I think we were here at 5:30 this morning. My favorite part of ClovisFest is seeing people enjoy it for the first time and being able to see their reactions.”

Spectators come from all around Orange County. Local visiter Guy Lee visits ClovisFest for the first time. His experience more than exceeded his expectations.

ClovisFest is unique because of the diversity of the participants. We have tons of people come out and it’s great to see the community come together. When it come to events like these I think that you have to take into consideration setting up, I think we were here at 5:30 this morning. My favorite part of ClovisFest is seeing people enjoy it for the first time and being able to see their reactions. — Sam Yang, ClovisFest Vendor

“I came to ClovisFest because I joined a meet-up group and I wanted to meet some new people,” Lee said. “I also wanted to see the hot air balloons for the first time. It was an awesome experience, seeing the balloons lifting off from the ground and disappearing into the sky. I’m definitely looking forward to coming here next year and hope to bring my family along next time.”

Experienced ballooning takes years of practice to master. Peter Pierre, an expert ballon pilot since the 80’s, shares a glimpse of what the life of a balloonist is like.

“I’ve been doing this since the early 80s,” Pierre said. “Last weekend I was in Reno for the Great Reno balloon race. In November I will be traveling to Leon, Mexico for the international global race in Mexico, which is the largest hot air balloon event in Central and South America with 150 balloons. I had a friend of mine that knew a balloonist and we did some business with him and we did some flying with him and i had an airplane at that time and I decided to get my balloon pilots license and have been flying ever since.”

Local vendors play an essential role in ClovisFest. Shelby Lee is one of the 200 plus vendors, contributing by selling local honey products. Educating kids about the process of making honey is Lee’s favorite part of ClovisFest.

“It takes weeks in advance for each and every event,” Lee said. “We have been going to farmer’s markets and small stores, selling raw local honey for six years now. ClovisFest has a great food selection, along with some awesome music selection. My favorite part about ClovisFest is educating people about our product and getting to show all the kids the bees and how they make honey. We live in a small town, Lindsay, California, thats 7 times smaller than how many people come here every year.”

Aside from the various activities offered at ClovisFest, Hot Air Balloon Fun Fly is another attraction that brings people to ClovisFest. The event occurs both Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 20-21. The balloonists arrive as early as 5:30 a.m. and fly from around 6:15 a.m.-7:15 a.m. The Hot Air Balloon Fun Fly usually showcases between 7 and 10 Hot Air Balloons.

This writer can be reached via Twitter: @_jadenventura03 and via email: Jaden Ventura.