Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Festival Time Nearing; Planned For June 2-3

Believe it or not, it's time for the 13th Annual Prescott-Nevada County Chamber of Commerce Chicken and Egg Festival.

This year's festival will be held Friday and Saturday, June 2-3, at the Prescott city park.

Mary Godwin, Chamber director, said the festival T-shirts are ready and can be ordered at this time. She urges all businesses to get the T-shirts and wear them on Fridays to show their support for the festival.

Orders can be made by calling the Chamber office at 887-2101, or Karen McLelland at the Bank of Prescott at 887-2688.

All youth size shirts will be $9, while adults small, medium and large will also be $9 per shirt. Extra large shirts will cost $10, while XX and XXX large will be $11 each.

Once again the festival will kick off Friday evening with the Rotary Club's Chicken in the Rough dinner.

This will be held at 5 p.m. in the pavilion with a menu featuring grilled chicken and roasted corn on the cob. Tickets can be purchased from any member of the Rotary Club or at the event.

Normally, the Kiwanis Club has an omelet breakfast the Saturday morning of the festival. This year, though, will be different as the Kiwanians will offer an old time country breakfast.

Godwin said this breakfast will include eggs, biscuit, sausage and bacon, but the entire fare hasn't been set yet. This event will be held from 7:30 until 9:30 a.m., also at the pavilion.

The boys 3-on-3 Coop Hoop basketball tournament will take place Friday, starting at 5 p.m., with the men's version to begin at 8 a.m. Saturday.

Once again the chicken or egg cooking contest will be held. Details on this event can be obtained from Candace Carriere' at the Nevada County Extension Office at 887-2818.

Also on Friday, the annual variety show will be held on the festival stage. Godwin said anyone wanting to perform should give her a call at 887-2101. Each act will be given 15 minutes to perform. She suggested those visiting the variety show bring lawn chairs.

Details are not available on the men's and women's softball tournaments, but should be in the near future. Both events will, however, be held during the festival.

The fun begins early Saturday with the 5k run/walk, which starts at 8 a.m. It will be followed at 9 a.m. by the annual Children's Chicken Chase.

These runs will follow the same routes they have in years past.

Other events at the festival will include the tennis tournament, cock of the walk weightlifting contest, the antique car show and balloon liftoff.

Something new will be added this year, Godwin said, in the form of a remote control car and truck contest. Details on this event aren't fully worked out yet.

A mini-carnival will also be on site, she said, featuring a giant slide, moon walk, air tunnel, along with basketball and balloon games.

The festival will again have the train ride and pony rides this year.

Youngsters can have fun spending their Saturday in the Chickie Pen. There they can participate in coloring contests, chick pick-up-in-a-pond, chicken dig, find-the-egg-in-a-haystack and ring toss game.

At 9:30 a.m. Saturday will be the balloon liftoff. Participants will release their helium-filled balloons into the winds, with the winner, being the first person to have their balloon found, getting a festival T-shirt.

Everybody's favorite game, the Golden Egg Hunt, will start at 10 a.m. with clues to the egg's location being given from the festival stage. This year, Godwin said, the egg will be hidden somewhere inside the park. Whoever finds this golden orb will take home a cool $100.

At 10:15 a.m. the egg toss and hula hoop contests will take place, with the cackling-crowing contest to be held at noon.

At 2 p.m., Godwin said, the Little Mister Rooster and Little Miss Hen pageants will be held on the festival stage. Dot Daniel is the chair of this event and can be reached at 887-2834.

Along with all these festivities there will be plenty of food vendors, dispensing nourishment to those on hand. There will also be plenty of arts and craft booths, with some commercial booths on hand as well.

While the festival is right around the corner, the Chamber will be hosting a ribbon cutting for Season's nursery Tuesday, May 16, from 9:30-11 a.m.

On Thursday, May 25, the Chamber, along with the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office, will be hosting the annual Industry Appreciation Golf Tournament and dinner at the Prescott Country Club.

Godwin said the engraved bricks have arrived and those who ordered one need to come by the Chamber office to make sure the information is correct before the bricks are placed in the park this summer.