Festival themes chronicle festival’s history

By News-Sentinel Staff

Most years, Lodi’s Grape Festival has had a theme, but not all years. Why some years and not others? No one seems to know the answer to that piece of trivia.

However, the festival’s themes have run the gamut, sometimes touching on contemporary trends, sometimes more whimsical as they explored various aspects of life that cropped up and took over the decades. Here is a look at past themes:

1947 Fiesta of Sun and Soil
1951 Statehood
1955 Nursery Rhymes/Flowers
1956 Golden Jubilee
1958 Book of Titles/Fictional Characters
1960 Out of This World
1961 Fantasy in Color
1962 Fantasy in Science
1963 Fantasies of Long Ago
1964 The Wizard of Oz
1965 Rip Van Winkle
1966 Musical Hits
1967 Historical Facts/Events
1968 Early California
1969 Early Lodi You Name It
1970 Soa~ng Seventies
1971 Childhood Fantasies
1972 Say It With Flowers
1973 A Mediterranean Holiday
1974 Arabian Nights
1975 California Heritage
1976 Festival USA
1977 Music on Parade
1978 The Roaring '20s
1979 Space Odyssey
1980 Energy: A Family Affair
1981 Agriculture: Our Renewable Resource
1982 School Days
1983 Fantasy in Flowers
1984 Star Spangled Festival
1985 Festivals to Remember
1986 Of Wine and Roses
1987 “Reflections” A 50th anniversary Celebration
1988 A Salute to Agriculture
1991 Harvest of Fun in ‘91
1992 Vines, Wines, Good Times
1993 A Wheel Adventure
1994 Bunches of Fun
1995 Stomp, Rattle and Roll
1996 Hollywood and Vines
1997 Makin’ Magic
1998 We’ve Got a Crush on You
1999 Barrels of Fun
2000 Pickin’ & Grinnin’
2001 The Wild Wild West
2002 America The Beautiful
2003 California Dreamin’ 2004 It’s A Jungle Out There

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