What do you get when you combine a pie eating contest, a canine costume parade, and a pumpkin decorating contest? Well, throw in a few vendor booths, some bounce houses, and food vendors, and you've got the annual City of Oakley Harvest Festival! The festival is held each year at Civic Center Plaza, as well as in parts of the parking lot of City Hall, on the Saturday before Halloween. It typically runs from noon 4:00 PM, with different events set up throughout the day.

Though this festival is open to all ages, it really is a perfect place for families, especially those with younger children. There is no alcohol served at any of the vendors during the festival, and most of the events are geared more towards children in the elementary school age group. Though my children have all grown beyond that age, I still stop by this festival every year, check out all of the new items that the vendors have for sale, have a hot dog (or two), and watch some of the events that take place.

For this year's festival, which was the 11th annual occurance for this event, the schedule of events included a Zumba class, both a canine and a human costume parade, a pie eating contest, a presentation by the East County Performing Arts, and a pumpkin carving contest. In addition, over thirty different vendors had booths open, a balloon artist was on site, there were crafts and games, as well as jump houses for the kids. The list of food vendors who attended included; Boondoggies hot dogs, Rita's of Brentwood sweet treats, and Dee's Cake Pops.

By far my favorite part of the event was the canine costume parade. Watching all of those dogs of various size and shape dressed up in costume was simply adorable! And I have to say, some of the costumes were incredibly unique! I really have to hand it to the owners for their creativity and the time they spent designing and putting together those outfits. A job very well done, indeed!

The Contests

The same held true for the pumpkin contest, which included both carved and decorated pumpkins, all of which were very well done. Awards were handed out for the funniest pumpkin, the most scary pumpkin, and the most creative pumpkin. I have to say, after looking over the pumpkins – which were on display for the entire festival – I would not have wanted to be one of the judges. There were far too many great designs to choose from!

When it comes to the pie eating contest, what could be more entertaining than watching kids of all ages shoving their faces into a slice of fresh blueberry pie, topped with whipped cream? Luckily, they were given plastic aprons to keep the mess off of their clothes, but their faces were another thing all together. For some of them, it looked like they were wearing more pie than they had eaten!

To make this contest fair, the event was separated by age group, with the youngest of the competitors going first. These kids, who were all between the age of three and six, were especially fun to watch. Their eyes were filled with excitement and anticipation as they waited for everyone to be ready, for the rules to be explained, and for the signal for the contest to begin. And then, it was nothing but chaos as they all tried different techniques to finish off their slice of pie, all without using their hands! As the age of the competitors increased with each new round of the contest, the action got even more exciting, and the mess got even bigger! One thing is for sure, the kids who participated really had fun, and so did those who were watching the contest, too!

Cypress Storage, a Festival of Selection!

Though we don't have canine costume parades or pie eating contests, Cypress Storage does have an incredible selection of services available for our customers to choose from. Whether your storage needs are large or small, if your items require the special environment of our climate-controlled units, or if you want the extra convenience of one of our drive-up self-storage units, Cypress Storage has what you need! And everything is protected with individual unit alarms and our 24-hour video surveillance system. If you're in the market for a storage unit, we have what you need!