As 2020 winds down, the Reveille will be taking time to reflect on the past year and everything that’s happened — from fires to a pandemic, Cloverdale has persevered. Despite barriers, the town came together for socially distanced or virtual events, supporting local businesses and more.
Over the coming two weeks, we’ll be sharing with you some of the highlights of the year.
While the bulk of Cloverdale’s events were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, one of Cloverdale’s biggest events — the Cloverdale Citrus Fair — was able to happen in February.
As part of the fair, the Citrus Fair cabaret team returned with an entertainment industry-themed show.
The fair itself followed the theme “California Dreamin,’” which centered around highlighting everything that makes California great.
The weekend of the fair was sunny and bright, bringing in an estimated 17,500 attendees, with paid admission going up 28% from what it was in 2019. CHS senior Neidi Calvillo was awarded the title of Citrus Fair Queen, as well as Miss Congeniality. Emma Johnson came in as runner up.
This year’s Lily Lemon and Oran Orange winners went to siblings Lucy, 4, and John Wayne McLean, 3. The competition for the littles had its own switch this year, with Whitney Westfall taking over the microphone from Linda Pardini, who hosted the event for 13 years before leaving the post last year.
Marley Mrkvicka, 4, was awarded best costume for Lily Lemon and Lucas Velasquez, 5, was awarded best costume for Oran Orange.
When it came time for the Baby Derby, Jack Stringer crawled to the finish line the quickest, taking home a ribbon, a trophy and a package of diapers.
The closing event of the Citrus Fair was Cloverdale’s Got Talent, which results in Maya Simms being awarded Best Tiny Talent; singer Amber Wunderlich was awarded Best Junior Talent; Studio W Dance Company was awarded Best Teen Talent; mother/daughter duo Jennifer and Maya Simms took home Best Adult Talent; Best of Show- Individual went to Alyssa Donaire and Higher Ground Dance Troupe won Overall Best of Show-Group.
On February 24, Remembrance Day was once again held at Cloverdale high School. Bouquets of daffodils were handed out to high school students in remembrance of former Cloverdale students who have died of cancer.
Making a return to Cloverdale after a hiatus, the Old Time Fiddle Festival returned to town in March. The 43rd annual festival is a combination of fiddle performance and contests and is put on by the California State Old Time Fiddle Association. The lively festival was held at the Citrus Fairgrounds.
Since the usual annual Lions Club Easter Egg Hunt was canceled due to both state and county shelter-in-place orders, Cloverdale resident and business owner Kristi Shehan organized a neighborhood Easter egg hunt for Cloverdale’s littlest community members. Folks signed up to decorate eggs — large paper ones or otherwise — and put in their windows or in their yards, and kids went around and counted all of the eggs they could find.
As folks started to embrace at-home events, the Alexander Valley Film Society launched a shelter in place series that brought together movie-watchers, film makers and local eateries. The series offered three types of events — educational opportunities based around distance learning for kids or Sunday night discussions, weekly arthouse film screenings and a Wednesday night film and food night.
“I think the heart of the events is built into our mission, which is creating connection, creating partnerships, offering a global perspective and every single person on the board of directors and on our staff and our volunteers are incredibly proud to be able to step forward with this kind of work in a time of crisis,” said film society Executive Director Kathryn Hecht in an April interview.
Helping Cloverdale seniors celebrate graduation was a community effort this year, since traditional graduation and promotion ceremonies can’t be practiced with social distancing. Community members and the district teamed up to organize a drive-thru commencement where students drove through the CHS parking lot one by one, walked to a stage to receive their diploma and take a photo, and then drove off down North Cloverdale Boulevard, which was lined with community members.
Additionally, large posters of senior photos were hung up on the Citrus Fairgrounds fence along the boulevard for two weeks following graduation, and families of graduates were given yard signs proclaiming that a Cloverdale graduate lives there.
Cloverdale’s eighth graders got a similar treatment for promotion, with parents receiving front yard signs that read “Proud family of a Washington School graduate, congratulations class of 2024.” A car parade through town was also planned for outgoing eighth graders, and took place on June 4.
In response to the death of George Floyd, who was killed by police on Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25, people from around the county — and Cloverdale — took to the streets to hold demonstrations calling for justice for Black people and people of color who have died at the hands of police.
Brenda Ramirez-Sotelo and Ashley Sanchez decided to put together an event in the Cloverdale Plaza on May 31 after seeing a video of the May 30 protests in Santa Rosa, and how protesters shut down the freeway. From there, they thought they would be able to put on a more peaceful protest for the local community.
“We came up with the idea of starting a peaceful protest because we saw that there was a lot of violence going on and although we understand why people are acting in such a violent way, we didn’t want that here for Cloverdale. We are such a tight community and we all do have each other’s backs. It was all last minute, we organized it last night,” Sanchez said.
“Black lives matter, George Floyd was unjustly murdered by a cop,” Sanchez continued, adding that, “We have a lot of respect for the cops here, the Cloverdale cops.”
Around 50 people gathered in the Plaza on Friday, June 26, waving American flags in support of local and national police.
The event was planned as a response to the way police officers have been treated “by some anti-police protesters” in recent weeks, an announcement for the event stated.
For approximately an hour, people lined Cloverdale Boulevard near the Plaza, waving American flags and holding signs in support of Cloverdale Police.
“I was out there to show positivity — I wasn’t out there for any side. I really just didn’t want to have any political side,” said event co-organizer Mike Toninato. “It’s just a stand for trying to unite everyone.”
“I think we’re all in agreeance that what happened with George Floyd, we’re all condemning it,” co-organizer Al Delsid said in an interview during the event. “Because of what’s happening with the police nowadays, all of the police are getting accused basically, of doing what that one officer did to Mr. Floyd. When I saw that the rioting started and that police were getting attacked and ambushed and killed, my anger level just started going up. I realized that this is no longer about George Floyd — this is just pure anarchy.”
On July 5, Ramirez-Sotelo and Sanchez, along with Erika Quezada and Vianey Lopez, held another event in the Plaza under the name Stand 4 Justice. Around 70 people filed into the Plaza to protest police brutality and voice support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Participants were also encouraged to share their experiences, or their family’s experiences, with racism in Cloverdale.
The event, which lasted a few hours, also had a space for people to write on cards and share their experiences with racism in Cloverdale, as well as tables set up where people could register to vote or purchase a raffle ticket or T-shirt, the proceeds of which are being donated to Colors of Change and the Black Lives Matter movement.
“We decided to do it today just because it’s not over yet,” Ramirez-Sotelo said. “We’re going to keep on speaking until we can’t anymore, and we can have our voices be shared for those who can’t.”
Cards detailing experiences of racism were hung on a string on the Plaza, where those in attendance could read them. The activity was inspired by a similar event held in Healdsburg on June 11.
On one card, someone wrote that they were 4-years-old when they were first told to “go back to Mexico.” Two of the cards mentioned people being called racial slurs. Others talked about being encouraged to be part of the community and to help think of solutions, only to not be truly seen or have their ideas recognized.
After first trying to plan a “light” version of its Car & Motorcycle Show for September, the Cloverdale Chamber of Commerce inevitably canceled the event, citing increasing numbers of coronavirus cases in the county.
In September, the Alexander Valley Film Festival prepared to go virtual. The festival’s theme was “justice” and, in addition to festival-goers attending from the comfort of their own home — a selection of films was available for them to watch online — the festival also included panel discussions that revolved around transgender representation in film, queer cinema, equity in health care as well as Q&A sessions about select films that were shown at the festival.
This year’s festival was slightly longer than previous ones, with the opening film being shown on a Wednesday instead of the usual Thursday. Additionally, the festival was bumped up a month to September in an effort to avoid fire season. Next year, the festival will be moving again to its permanent home where it will span the last weekend of April/first weekend of May (the 2021 Alexander Valley Film Festival will be April 28-May 2).
Halloween came to Cloverdale via drive-thru this year, with the Cloverdale Chamber of Commerce helping to organize both a drive-thru trunk-or-treat at the Citrus Fair as well as a neighborhood Halloween Crawl, where floats made their way through main thoroughfares in town.
Socially distanced events continued on Veterans Day, as Cloverdale hosted the standalone north county Veterans Day event. Fourth District Supervisor Gore presented special resolutions from the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to Cloverdale’s World War II veterans — Frank Rose, Harold Meyers, Leonard Mittelstadt and Harold Peters. Both Rose and Meyers were present at the ceremony to receive their recognition as well as a friendly elbow bump from Gore.
