Zucchini Fest draws smiles under mid-day sun

Zucchini Festival drew many families to the Anderson River Park Saturday, where organizers prepared an old-fashioned fair atmosphere. Grilled zucchini and hot dogs with zucchini relish were served by cooks from the Klassique Kafe in Redding.

"It reminds me of the Strawberry Festival in Happy Valley," Anderson Fire Protection District Deputy Chief Andy Nichols, off duty, said of the fair.

Complete with pony rides, the fair may be a bigger hit next year, as the event featured a number of creative, simple activities that were inexpensive to take part in.

The fair featured a zucchini toss, a zucchini peeling competition, blueberry pie eating contest and a zucchini baking contest.

Marty Wayne, of Cottonwood, won a pie eating contest and a $20 gift certificate to Vittles for his efforts. He ate the most of a blueberry pie compared to two other contestants by such a wide margin, that the amount of bluberries smeared on his face could not have closed the gap.

"This is great," said Anderson City Councilman Keith Webster said of the turnout, gearing-up for his 12:30 p.m. announcer's position at the zuchinini race track. "I'm going to Woofstock later, so I'll be here almost all day."

"I patterned it after fairs of the 1950s," fair organizer Elaine Rutkowski of Shasta County Citizens for Healthy Environment said, adding that she had been waiting for the right time to run such an event for over 20 years. "It just so happened that one of the grants we got, half of it was to promote agriculture."