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CONTENTS General information and schedule of events Lodi Grape Festival honors nation with patriotic theme, ‘America the Beautiful’ Mural captures festival’s patriotic theme Fair talent guaranteed to rock Lodi with funk, alternative, blues Don and Jean Phillips head this year’s parade as grand marshals Festival parade comes from months of planning, effort Patriotic festival theme turns Grape Pavilion into a hall of flags Festival presents chance to taste fine local wines Good eats, from snacks to desserts, can be found at the festival Bobbie Norton: Invaluable behind-the-scenes person Answers to Grape Festival trivia questions Butler Amusements brings fun, games to Grape Festival Step right up and win a stuffed bulldog! Talented people make murals with grapes Hewlett-Packard brings technology exhibit to town Swan Brothers bring comedy circus to festival once again Don’t forget to visit the petting zoo Grape Festival features tobacco-free zones for fair-goers Festival Web site tells what to see, do 2002 president Caroline Lange has years of festival experience Board of directors plans for four-day event all year 2001 Grape Festival carried on despite terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, D.C. From Tokay to today: Evolution of the Grape Festival |
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Don’t forget to visit the petting zoo
By News-Sentinel staff If anyone had an easy job at the 2001 Lodi Grape Festival and Harvest Fair, it was Benny Blanco the goat. While many work hard, either preparing food or collecting tickets, Benny just lies about on mounds of straw. “How hard is it to sit around all day and be pet and fed?” said Ira Shaw, caretaker of over 60 animals at the Double R Exotics petting zoo, located on the east side of the festival grounds at the 2001 Grape Festival. For the second day, Lodi Grape Festival and Harvest fair-goers made their way through festival gates and into a world of fun, games, food and, yes, a petting zoo. Benny, a brown and white goat, is just one of the 50 to 60 exotic animals ready to be petted, loved and fed. For 25 cents or $1, those wishing to feed the adorable animals can purchase carrots or other treats for the animals. “All the money goes back to the animals,” Felix Espino said. “They love it. They love getting petted.” Although the animals look cute and lovable, there are a few ground rules to follow. “Hold you hands flat,” Espino said. Occasionally, if hands aren’t held flat, it could be mistaken for a carrot, both Shaw and Espino said. “And don’t feed the horse,” Shaw said. The miniature horse in the center of the petting zoo couldn’t be fed because she was on a special diet. With those two rules in mind, anyone was free to pet either a baby or pygmy goat, the baby Vietnamese pot bellied pigs, the Ankole-Watusi calf and much more. One of the rarest animals in the petting zoo was perhaps the Jacob sheep, an ancient breed of sheep in which the males grow three to four horns. Many would think taking care of all those different animals would be hard, but Shaw and Espino saw it as a chance to travel and work with animals. Both have been traveling to fairs with their trailer-loads of animals for close to a year. It’s easy, compared to Shaw’s last job as a beekeeper. “I didn’t like my last job,” he said. “I would go home every night covered in bee stings. They told me that after a while I would get used to it. After a year I didn’t, so I quit.” The life of a petting zoo animal is fairly simple, Shaw and Espino said. As soon as the baby animals are old enough to be away from their mothers, they are put in a pen. And it is in that pen where the animal will become gentle and get used to having hundreds of people pet it a day. Although all the animals at last year’s petting zoo were extremely friendly, the pens are designed to give them a little privacy, Shaw said. “The pens are just big enough that if they get grumpy they can get away,” he said. A must-see at the petting zoo last year was the baby zeedonk — yes, zeedonk — a cross between a zebra and a donkey. Home | News | Sports | Business | Features | Opinion | Obituaries |Classifieds | Archives |
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