NOTE: This page uses cascading style sheets (CSS) to present the content in the best possible manner. If you are reading this message, then you do not have a standards-compliant browser or CSS (or JavaScript) is not enabled in your browser, and the page will not appear as the designer intended. Please visit The Web Standards Project for details and for information about how to upgrade your browser.

 

The Grape Stomp — the name says it all

By Alejandro Lazo
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

In the grand tradition of Lucille Ball and Italian winemakers, Lodi will host its annual Grape Stomp at the Lodi Grape Festival and Harvest Fair beginning Sept. 18.

The name says it all. Teams of two stompers each will face-off against each other for glory, fortune and to see who can stomp the most juice out of a barrel of grapes in 90 seconds.

“People like to watch their kids and co-workers make fools of themselves,” said Frank Johnson, announcer for the yearly event.

The grape stomp began about 20 years ago as a promotional and photo opportunity for the Grape Festival. Members of the local print, radio, and television press were invited to compete against each other every year.

“We wanted to get (the media) to come out and stomp grapes and write stories,” Johnson said. “So we started the Media Stomp on a Thursday night.”

Media participation waned in the annual event and so the approach changed. Civic organizations from the Lions to the Rotarians began to compete. This tradition continues today with the Civic/Service Club Grape Stomp held Saturday night.

The entire community is invited to test their stomping skills Friday night with the Open Grape Stomp. Thursday night is the Kids Grape Stomp. The great Grape Stomp championships will be held on Sunday.

Be forewarned: The competition is fierce.

“We stop after a minute and a half,” Johnson said. “It’s a very tiring thing. People get really worn out. Some of them are barely moving at the end.”

Tara Tecklenburg, part of the Future Farmers of America team at Lodi High School, dominated the Saturday night club Stomp last year and went on to take the finals on Sunday. She said she’s looking to sweep-up again this year too.

“Good luck to my competitors,” she said.

Tecklenburg, now an Agricultural Business major at Delta College, said she has never trained professionally to be a grape stomper.

“No, we just stomped. We had no idea what we were doing. It was kind of embarrassing at the time,” she said.

No official records have been kept of the grape stomp so there is no way to tell if there are any world records being broken. Records were never kept because some years the grapes are juicier than others, said Johnson.

Contestants are not allowed to stomp barefoot as was the old Italian tradition. Also, none of the juice is used for any of the area’s wineries.

“No, no. Heavens no,” Johnson said. “It may have been done that way in ancient days but certainly not anymore.”

All participants of this year’s festival will receive a complimentary “Order of the Purple Feet Certificate.”

Prizes for kids include: Tickets to rides at the carnival, scooters, and skateboards. Prizes for adults include: Bottles of wine, tents, and the coveted champion stomp-off trophy.

The deadline to enter for the competition is Sept. 12. For more information check out: www. grapefestival.com.