Orange Fest Unpeeled. Part I.

Hi, CV!

Orange Fest (OF) was a smash. Even though it was hot, nearly 400 people came out to celebrate parents, youth, and community with CV Alliance and our Youth Alliance. The feedback we’ve received has been positive especially since everyone knew this was the first annual OF, or our baseline event. If you were there or heard about it, please share feedback with us through info@cv-alliance.org.

When you put on an event of that size, you can’t ask for a better person at the lead than Julia Rabago. Julia worked for the chamber of commerce and spearheaded many Hometown Country Fairs, so we were in good hands from the start. The girl can throw a carnival like nobody’s business. Good news: She’s sharing her skills with the next generation of event planners. Julia works closely with the CV Youth Alliance, and this event was their baby. They created the name, the focus, and took charge with so many important aspects like lining up food, music, and friends. They knew that they wanted this to be a happy event, designed to empower youth to take charge of their happiness in positive ways, and they spent much of their summer making it happen.

Thanks to students on the steering committee Makayla Rabago, Tara Asadoorian, Rebecca Frink, Emily Frink, Jeremy Grinnell and Shawn Grinnell. I must give a high-five shout-out to their faculty advisor, Tiffany Hirdler, and board member Shirley Poordawood for their important contributions to this event.

Finally, many thanks to my board for their support of Orange Fest. I have the best board! Ours is a mighty village, proving that when we come together, you’re never alone.

Glendale Police Dept. held a special Rx Drug Take Back for us during Orange Fest. We collected two full boxes of unwanted medicines for destruction. We are lucky to have Officer Joe Allen in CV, always ready to help out and make the community better for kids. The DEA will hold its traditional Rx Drug Take Back on Saturday, Sept. 26 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Details soon!

  Suzy JACOBS