Requests must be received no later than Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2019 to be considered.

Dr. Dawn Miller, donations chair and immediate past president of GGSFA, said:  “Each year it is our goal to give back to the community by donating to non-profit organizations which provide services for children, seniors, youth, community and the arts.  We strive to do so in a fair and equitable manner to all eligible organizations.  Priority is typically given to Garden Grove-based organizations.”

In keeping with tradition, proceeds of more than $100,000 raised from the 2019 festival will be donated to non-profit organizations which serve Garden Grove citizens who apply for 2020 grants/donations.

Application letters must be submitted on the non-profit organization’s letterhead and include the non-profit identification number, amount of the request and the purpose for funding.  Requests may be emailed to drdawnmiller@gmail.com, or mailed to:  Garden Grove Strawberry Festival, attention: Donations Committee, P.O. Box 2287, Garden Grove, CA  92842.

GGSFA donations are limited to improvements, new equipment, repairs or maintenance of existing capital assets.  Funds are not given to organizations which award charitable cash grants.  Donations to approved organizations will be reimbursed the amount rewarded when paid invoices are submitted after completion of purchases or capital improvements.

Other selection criteria considered include organizations which:

• Use the majority of their time and finances for the betterment of the community;
• Have a sound track record of fiscal responsibility, or for new groups, which plan to achieve financial soundness;
• Demonstrate stability and consistency in attaining goals and fulfilling a purpose;
• Demonstrate a specific need;
• Provide services regardless of race, creed, gender or age.

Save the dates for the 62nd annual Garden Grove Strawberry Festival, to be held Friday through Monday, May 22–25, 2020 on the Village Green, at Euclid Street and Main Street in Garden Grove.

To learn more about the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival, visit https://strawberryfestival.org/.

Continue the conversation with us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StrawberryFestivalGardenGrove.

Twitter: @GGStrawberryFst.

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/strawberry_festival.

Pinterest:  https://www.pinterest.com/ggstrawberry/.

The event featured cars, a kids area with games, crafts and more.

Food trucks were available, offering lunch options. Pictured here are classic cars.

Winning kids were, front row from left, Noah Hagerstand (boys division), Allyson Tan (girls division), and Joshua Tan (Allyson’s brother). 

Congratulations, kids!

Well, here comes Peter Cottontail hopping down the bunny trail because Easter is on its way to Stanton.

Our town’s annual Easter egg hunt, pancake breakfast and resource fair will be held at Stanton Central Park on Saturday April 20 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

All egg hunts will begin at 10 a.m. Candy-filled eggs will be hidden throughout the egg hunt areas. The age group sections will be 0-2 years, 3-4 years, 5-7 years, 8-10 years and11-13 years.

Registration is not required so just show up and be ready for a fun-filled morning. Remember to bring a container, bag or basket for egg hunt goodies.

If participants are lucky and find a “GOLDEN EGG,” they will receive a special prize. The Easter Bunny will pay us a special visit and will be available for pictures for everyone. Parents, please bring your cameras. The Pancake Breakfast is $3.50 and benefits the Stanton Youth Assistance Foundation.

Stanton just keeps on ticking like the energizer bunny when it comes to family fun. In addition to this exciting event, be sure to check out the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony with Santa Claus and Halloween Family and Fun celebrations coming in the future.

If you have ever wondered why we decorate eggs at Easter, let me try to explain.

Poultry eggs have been a human food for as long as humans could find eggs in a bird’s nest. It wasn’t long thereafter, in a time of no refrigeration, that people realized eggs don’t keep very well.  One way to lengthen the safety of eggs is to hard boil them. Bird eggs have also long been a symbol of fertility, rebirth and the beginning of life.

As Christianity grew in Western Europe, the Catholic Church adapted many pagan customs. The egg, already long a symbol of new life, came to represent the Resurrection. Some Christians also regarded the egg as a symbol for the stone being rolled from the sepulcher. For the most part, the use of painted and decorated Easter eggs was first recorded in the 13th century.

During Lent and Passover, eating eggs was forbidden, so hard boiling or pickling the eggs were ways to preserve them. So, if for a week, you can’t eat the eggs your chickens are laying, what do you do with them after hard boiling or pickling them? Given the symbolism already established, people began to decorate the eggs.

Chocolate Easter eggs were first made in Europe in the early 19th century in France and Germany. Early eggs were solid, until the technique for mass-producing molded chocolate was invented.

Chocolate eggs (and, of course, chocolate bunnies) have become very popular with children in western  cultures. And of course, Cadbury makes creme-filled chocolate eggs.

The 17th and 18th centuries saw the manufacture of egg-shaped toys, which were given to children at Easter. The Victorians had cardboard, plush and satin covered eggs filled with Easter gifts and chocolates.

And by the 1970s, colorful plastic eggs became popular for obvious reasons: they cannot spoil, do not break easily and are favorites with children.

Everyone would naturally rather have a candy-filled egg. Plastic, candy-filled eggs are commonly used in most communities.

Children were taught to prepare nests for the Easter Bunny, who would lay colorful eggs during the night provided the children were well behaved. The eggs were typically dyed by simmering them in water with onion skins, which imparted a reddish-brown color. Additional colors were achieved with madder root, walnut hulls, hickory bark and other materials. Most of the eggs were eaten over the holiday. The extra decorated eggs were often exchanged as gifts.

Egg hunting was an important game in which Easter eggs are hidden for children to find. Real hard-boiled eggs, which are typically dyed or painted, artificial eggs made of plastic filled with chocolate or candies, or foil-wrapped egg-shaped chocolates of various sizes are hidden in various places. The game is often played outdoors but can also be played indoors. The children typically collect the eggs in a basket. When the hunt is over, prizes may be given out for various achievements, such as the largest number of eggs collected. Eggs are placed with varying degree of concealment to accommodate children of varying ages and development levels. In many folk traditions it was customary to add extra obstacles to the game by placing them into hard-to reach places.

Finally, what is Easter without a major event?

The Easter parade is an American cultural event consisting of a festive strolling procession on Easter Sunday. Typically, it is a somewhat informal and unorganized event, with or without religious significance.

Persons participating in an Easter parade traditionally dress in new and fashionable clothing, particularly ladies hats, and strive to impress others with their finery. The Easter parade is most closely associated with Fifth Avenue in New York City, but Easter parades are held in many other cities. Starting as a spontaneous event in the 1870s, the New York parade became increasingly popular into the mid-20th century. In 1947, it was estimated to draw over a 1 million people. Its popularity has declined significantly, drawing only 30,000 people in 2008.

So put on your Easter bonnet, grab a basket full of colored eggs, eat a chocolate bunny, hide eggs for your kids to find and enjoy a Happy Easter with all of your family.

Hiccups Restaurant and Teahouse and Churroholic (right next door, at Beach and Orangewood Avenue) opened this month.

Both held soft openings. Hiccups bills itself as an “Asian fusion restaurant,” which Churroholics specializes Spanish-inspired desserts.

By Loreen Berlin

The City of Garden Grove honored one of its own Tuesday, March 26, as the Bronze Bust of Jack Wallin was unveiled at the Atlantis Play Center.

Wallin not only designed and constructed Atlantis Play Center, he did the same with Garden Grove’s  Kiwanisland for the Kiwanis Club, of which he was a member, maintaining Kiwanisland  until his passing last year.

Wallin was co-founder of the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival Association and served as the city’s first Park Superintendent.

The bust was sculpted by Garden Grove Azteca Restaurant business owner Jennifer Stewart. Stewart’s attention to detail, includes visual representations of not only Atlantis Play Center but his involvement with the Kiwanis Club and Strawberry Festival.

“Jack Wallin was the Godfather of fun who brought a timeless magic to Garden Grove that’s lasted for generations and will certainly continue for many more,” said Mayor Steve Jones. “His greatest joy was to compassionately do for and to give to others and to see the profound happiness it brought to their lives and this bust is Garden Grove’s way of honoring and thanking him for his priceless contributions to our community, in a place that holds so much meaning.”

Wallin’s son, Steven, said that Jack Wallin attended Pierce College for the Study of Horticulture and also learned from his own father, who was a greens man for the studios in Hollywood.

“In 1958, my dad accepted a job in Garden Grove and moved our family from Santa Fe Springs to a duplex on Garden Grove and Century boulevards, that still exists; later he purchased a new home on the west side of Garden Grove,” Wallin said. “Our home was one of his main landscaping jobs, showing the city and everyone else what kind of work he did, from hardscape, masonry, rock work and a variety of plant materials that were not commonly used, along with special electrical features.”

The Wallin home was honored in the city’s Beautification Program.

Wallin said it was fun going to work with his dad, getting to water the plants and learning plant names from his father and enjoying a stop for breakfast  afterwards with his siblings and father.

“It was nice going inside City Hall and being able to tell people that’s where our dad worked,” said Wallin. “Dad was also a PTA president and lifetime member, as well as a Boy Scout.”

Jack Wallin’s goal was to celebrate 60-years with Garden Grove and he accomplished that goal, even riding in last year’s Strawberry Festival as the 2018 Garden Grove Strawberry Festival parade Theme Grand Marshal.

Dawn Miller with the Strawberry Festival Association said Wallin was, “A man who noticed the small things but made big things happen” and that Wallin, “Made sure each special-needs child went home with a smile on their face and a tummy full of popcorn, a hotdog and a stuffed animal.”

Miller also noted that Wallin started a tradition that continues to date, of hosting a barbecue luncheon for the carnival workers. “This means so much to the carnival people who spend a lot of time away from their families while traveling,” said Miller.

Community Services Director John Montanchez said during Wallin’s tenure, he helped build six parks and worked on Willowick Golf Course.

“His most notable contribution to the city’s parks is the Atlantis Play Center with the 40-foot dragon slide and King Neptune sculpture, which were Jack’s work; the impact Jack made in the community will be enjoyed by generations to come and he will never be forgotten.”

Last year, Jack and wife Marge were crowned Strawberry Ball King and Queen, honoring their senior volunteerism within the community.

Organizers of the 61st annual Garden Grove Strawberry Festival are holding an on-line contest to find an outstanding family in Garden Grove or its surrounding communities – a family who as a whole has given generously of their talents to better their community through selfless acts of public service.

The winning family will be named Theme Grand Marshals in support of this year’s theme, “Celebrating Family.”  They will be honored in the Saturday, May 25 parade, treated to a VIP breakfast and lunch with TV and film celebrities, be interviewed by the local press and will receive wristbands for a day of free rides.  The person who has nominated the winning family will also receive two wristbands.

Members of the community may submit information about a potential candidate by filling out a form on the festival website at www.strawberryfestival.org/family. The deadline for submissions is midnight, May 1.

The festival is a charity event that has brought in over $7 million for local charities since its inception in 1958. It will be held Memorial Day Weekendon  Friday, May 24 through Monday, May 27. Friday hours are 1 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Monday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.  Admission is free. Special one-price ride-all-day wristbands will be offered for all festival days.

The four-day event, which is the second largest city festival in the Western United States, will be held at the Village Green between Main Street and Euclid Avenue in downtown Garden Grove. Last year’s attendance was over 300,000.

Highlights include the Friday evening official giant strawberry cake cutting ceremony at 6 p.m. at the Showmobile (Acacia and Main streets) when free cake is served to over 2,000 people.  Saturday morning begins with a 5K Run followed by an 8 a.m. VIP celebrity breakfast at the Garden Grove Community Center, with proceeds going to We Give Thanks. Next is a parade at 10 a.m. with floats, bands, equestrians and characters.  Many film and TV celebrities will be honored in the parade.

All four festival days will include 35 carnival rides, five contests, over 200 food and sales booths, games, music and live entertainment in the amphitheater and Showmobile.  Contests, held in the festival’s 550-seat amphitheater, include the Berry, Berry Beautiful Baby Contest, Redhead Roundup, Strawberry Idol Karaoke, and Tiny Tots King and Queen.

For more information, call 714-638-0981 or visit www.strawberryfestival.org.

The event includes an Easter egg hunt and visit from the Easter Bunny.

Shown here is a scene from last year’s Eggs-cavation.

The event is sponsored by the Garden Grove  Chamber of Commerce. Cost to attend is $20.

For information, call Chamber CEO/President Cindy Spindle at 714-638-7950 or email her at ceo@gardengrovechamber.com.

Miss Garden Grove Sarah Bui and Miss Garden Grove Outstanding Teen Sophie Nessary will pass their crowns to new queens at the 2019 Miss Garden Grove and Outstanding Teen Scholarship Pageant at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29 at Hilton Bell Intermediate School, 12345 Springdale St. in Garden Grove.

The event is sponsored by the Garden Grove  Chamber of Commerce. Cost to attend is $20.

For information, call Chamber CEO/President Cindy Spindle at 714-638-7950 or email her at ceo@gardengrovechamber.com.