Strong winds last Friday night threw a wrench into the works for Saturday’s Hometown Country Fair but everyone came together with smiles on their faces to set it all up in the morning. It ended up being a beautiful, fun-filled day.

Classic cars started pouring in early making for an impressive display throughout the day. At 10 a.m., Malia Chock from Mountain Avenue School kicked off the day’s entertainment with a touching rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner.” Annie Blood from CV High School’s Charismatics followed up with a beautiful version of “America the Beautiful.”

After hearing from Supervisor Kathryn Barger’s representative, the Rosemont School Jazz Band took the stage. We then got to see a demonstration by The Martial Way. And right after the impressive CVHS Jazz Band, we held our ever-popular pie-eating contest. Thanks to Lynn McGinnis, Rik Middleton and Albertsons for pulling that together. Our winner received a prize basket with amusement tickets, hamburger meal, gift cards and more.

The afternoon saw fascinating cultural dance and song troupes including the Homenetmen Glendale Ararat Choir, LC High School’s Korean Student Group’s Drum Beat and K-Pop Dance, the Sahag Mesrob Armenian Christian School Choir and Hiza Yoo’s Korean Dance Institute. In between it all we heard from State Senator Anthony Portantino and Assemblymember Laura Friedman. We also had our famous dog parade, probably the best attended to date. CV Chamber Honorary Mayor Mike Riley bestowed prizes on the top dogs. Thank you to Crescenta-Cañada Pet Hospital, Andersen’s Pet Shop and Grub & Groom for the prize packages.

Spoiler Alert: Blue, one of our dog parade leaders, was none other than Kaipo Chock, president of the CV Chamber in a big blue dog suit. According to Chock, this was his favorite part of the day.

“Blue loved entertaining the kids, high-fiving them (high-fouring?), and taking photos,” said Kaipo.

President Chock spoke with a number of families at the fair and the common remark was “There’s so much for the kids to do!” Between the inflatables, the carnival rides, the human-sized “hamster balls” (courtesy of Prom Plus), the petting zoo, and the hundreds of things to look at, touch and play with, the kids were entertained all day long.

Even though a gigantic tree fell over on the picnic grounds in the early morning hours (luckily no one was around), the food court was popular all day long. Volunteers kept the barbecues and kitchen going at full steam and food trucks kept fair-goers satisfied with ice cream, icees, cotton candy, corn on the cob and, of course, the infamous Tornado Potatoes.

Musicians the Faith Alone band and the Woodward Avenue Blues band kept the dance floor hopping and Mark Achuff added lovely melodies to the warm, breezy afternoon air. Plus the impromptu La Crescenta Girls tore it up during karaoke time, led by VJ Ernie Muraoka. When the high-energy CVHS football team showed up at the end of the day to help clean up, everyone was grateful.

Thank you to all the volunteer entertainers, organizers and workers who took time to come out and show fair-goers what our community is made of. I heard it uttered more than once that this event is “so Mayberry.” That’s a compliment in my book.

Upcoming events: Mixer at Crescenta-Cañada Pet Hospital, 3502 Foothill Blvd., on Wednesday, May 10 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

  Lisa DUPUY