Entries tagged with “Papermill Creek Children’s Corner”.


Despite wet weather, celebrations of Halloween and Dia de los Muertos enlivened Point Reyes Station Saturday and Sunday in advance of Monday’s trick or treating.

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Wendi Kallins (left), a candidate for county supervisor in the June primary election, and Constance Washburn as “Super Gaia” during the Day of the Dead party in the Dance Palace Saturday evening. The altar is decorated with memorials for deceased friends and relatives.


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Toby’s Feed Barn also held a Halloween party with a Di­a de los Muertos altar Saturday night. Here Feed Barn owner Chris Giacomini enjoys the decorations.


On Sunday, the festivities continued across town.

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In the firehouse, the annual pancake breakfast prepared by firefighters from Point Reyes Station and Inverness was held Sunday morning as a benefit for the Point Reyes Disaster Council.

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Marty Frankel (left) and Eileen Connery selling tickets at the pancake breakfast. Lynn Axelrod (far right), coordinator of the Point Reyes Disaster Council, checks out the crowd at the breakfast.

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For youngsters, one of the highlights of the pancake breakfast was a chance to take a firetruck ride around town.


Also on Sunday, Papermill Creek Children’s Corner preschool held a Halloween party in the Dance Palace.papermill-creek-childrens-corner-halloween-party

Enthusiastic party goer at the Dance Palace takes a run between the rains that fell sporadically Sunday.

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For the youngest children, the chance to ride a horse around the block was a special thrill.

 

 

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Wearing tiger ears framing an exit sign, Lourdes Romo, executive director of the preschool, with three of her young charges.


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Halloween costumes:  Everywhere in town, many adults and children wore costumes all day Monday. The most realistic costumes I saw were worn by this group of trick or treaters, who showed up at our door that evening.

Point Reyes Station today was unusually busy even for a Sunday. The firehouse was the scene of the 27th annual Pancake Breakfast and Benefit for the Point Reyes Station Disaster Council while Toby’s Feed Barn was the scene of the annual Papermill Creek Children’s Corner Carnival and Chef-Off.

It almost looked like there was a fire at the Point Reyes Station firehouse Sunday morning. All the engines were out on the street, and smoke from a fire-extinguisher demonstration was billowing nearby.

Fire engines are moved out of the firehouse every year to give people a place to eat. The breakfast was again organized by Larry Thompson, a county fire department engineer and paramedic.

Inverness Volunteer Fire Department helped Marin County firefighters staff the fundraiser. Here Inverness firefighter Burton Eubank serves pancakes and sausages while Inverness VFD Chief Jim Fox flips a pancake.

Lynn Axelrod, the Point Reyes Disaster Council coordinator, sells raffle tickets at the pancake breakfast.

Smokey the Bear gives a thumbs up as sales of raffle tickets and pancakes, along with donations, bring in $9,635 for the Point Reyes Station Disaster Council.

A firefighter demonstrates cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) at the entrance to the firehouse.

Children got a kick out of being hoisted in a rescue basket operated by a member of the Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team.

Other kids had fun pretending to operate jet boats belonging to the Search and Rescue Team.

Youngsters line up for a ride around Point Reyes Station in a fire engine. “Adults can ride too,” one firefighter told me, but I wasn’t about to take up some of the limited seating.

Only four blocks from the firehouse, The Papermill Creek Children’s Corner Carnival, a benefit for the preschool, began just before the pancake breakfast ended. Here Carolyn Placente of Point Reyes Station (left), chair of the preschool’s board of directors, handles the cashbox. Her kids, Dylan and Cherise, graduated from the preschool and now attend Inverness School.

The Papermill Creek Children’s Corner Carnival offered a variety of attractions, ranging from gourmet food to pony rides to live music to archery from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday in front of Toby’s Feed Barn.

Six professional chefs from West Marin donated their time and skills for the fundraiser, said food organizer Leslie Durkee. They were: August Temer, the Sand Dollar in Stinson Beach; Shannon Gregory, the Marshall Store; Jennifer Lutrell, The Fork at Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company; Matt Elias, Saltwater Oyster Depot in Inverness; Mary Margaret Stewart, the Siren Canteen in Stinson Beach; and Ed Vigil, Perry’s Deli in Inverness Park.

Selling pastries.

Five Brooks Stables in the Olema Valley provided pony rides as part of the fundraiser.

At a small petting zoo in the Feed Barn’s parking lot, two calves relax oblivious to a youngster rushing by.

With encouragement from Valerie Saenz, who ran the “Eyeball Toss,” youngsters try to get a golf ball to land in a vaguely skull-shaped target made of plastic cups.

Inside Toby’s, numerous little girls were eager to have their faces painted.

Kids tested their archery skills under the guidance of Richard Saenz of San Quentin. Richard is an instructor in the prison machine shop and also does contract work for NASA.

Without question, the physically largest attraction for kids inside the Feed Barn was a maze formed from bales of hay. It took some of the youngsters awhile to find their way out of the maze, and because of all the activities in town, it took some of their parents awhile to find their way out of Point Reyes Station.

Nor was Point Reyes Station the only West Marin town who chose to have some civic fun on Sunday. While all this was going on in Point Reyes Station, down the road in Bolinas, a Health and Safety Day, complete with helicopter demonstrations, firetruck rides, and fire-extinguisher training, was scheduled from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the firehouse and Community Health Center.

Saturday was the 65th anniversary of the start of Western Weekend. It began in 1949 with a women’s group, Companions of the Forest Circle 1018, holding a festival, fashion show, and cake walk in their hall on Mesa Road in Point Reyes Station.

The following year, members of the Lions Club, many of whom were married to Circle 1018 members, added a parade and a livestock show for 4-H and Future Farmers of America members. For more than three decades, Western Weekend’s proper name was the West Marin Junior Livestock Show.

Sunday was the parade’s 62nd anniversary. The 1982 and 1983 parades were called off after thousands upon thousands of spectators, a number of them unruly bikers, began showing up for parades. The 4-H Fair, however, continued uninterrupted.

A color guard from the Coast Guard followed by the Sheriff’s Mounted Posse led Sunday’s Western Weekend parade down Point Reyes Station’s main street.

With lights flashing and sirens wailing, a procession of county and volunteer fire department vehicles was near the head of the parade as always.

Western Weekend Queen Summer Cassel will be a senior at Tomales High this fall. She lives in Inverness.

Western Weekend Princess Alyssia Martinez will be a sophomore at Tomales High this fall. She too lives in Inverness.

Grand Marshal of the parade Angelo Sacheli, who retired after 36 years as program manager in West Marin for county Health and Human Services, rode with his wife, Cathy Hall.

The Nave Patrola, as it does every year, spoofed the Italian Army in World War I. The group won 1st place in the Adult Drill Division.

In the early 1970s, an official from the Italian Consulate in San Francisco complained to parade organizers, the West Marin Lions Club, that the patrol disparaged Italians, what with its seemingly confused marchers colliding with each other and going off in all directions. Defenders of the patrol replied that many of the members are of Italian descent.

Inverness Garden Club won 3rd place in the Adult Street Show division. Among the activities of the club, which this year is celebrating its 80th birthday, is maintaining flower beds in public places. The group also provides scholarships for college students from West Marin.

Parade announcer Robert Cardwell (right) with other parade judges sat in the sun at a table on a flatbed truck parked next to Toby’s Feed Barn.

The Point Reyes Light float won 3rd place in the Adult Float division. (Photo by Lynn Axelrod)

Riding on the float once it got rolling were: editor Tess Elliott (middle); reporter Samantha Kimmey (standing at right); board member Jacoba Charles; reporter Christian Peak (at desk); guitarist Ramon Cadiz; a West Marin School student named Hiroki (who lives with his aunts Laurie Monserrat and Tor Taylor in Point Reyes Station); columnist Victor Reyes (standing); Ingrid Noyes (driving her truck); photographer/office manager David Briggs (in cab) with his and Tess’ son Elliott on his lap; business manager Diana Cameron; ad sales representative Harry Korss; former ad department staffer Lynn Axelrod; and this retired publisher.

We riders threw rolled up newspapers to onlookers, as well as wrapped candy to the kids.

A wearing of the news: Three of The Light’s distaff staff wore dresses adorned with newspapers. From left: Jacoba Charles, a member of the paper’s board of directors; Tess Elliott, editor; and Samantha Kimmey, reporter.

KWMR FM community radio in West Marin won 2nd place in the Adult Float division.

Tending the Wells Fargo stage in front of the bank were branch officers Edith Rojas and Jeff Schrott.

Point Reyes-Olema 4-H Club members rode on a truck provided by Clover-Stornetta Dairy. The group won 2nd place in the Kids’ Float division.

Onlookers crowded both sides of the three-block-long parade route down the main street.

Halleck Creek Riding Club for handicapped young people, which meets in Nicasio, won 2nd place in the Kids’ Horse division.

The Aztec Dancers are known as much for their colorful headresses as for their dancing to the beat of a drum. The group took 1st place in the Adult Music division.

The Marin County Free Library’s float thanked West Marin residents for helping pass Measure A on Tuesday’s ballot. The measure renews for nine years the parcel tax that provides funding for the library system, and it carried with 77.7 percent of the vote. The entry won 1st place in the Adult Vehicle division.

Mainstreet Moms, a get-out-the-vote group which began here in 2004, is now countrywide. The West Marin group meets in Point Reyes Station. It examines political issues and is fighting fracking. In the foreground are Mary Morgan (left) and Kathy Callaway. The group won 1st place in the Adult Street Show division and won the overall Best Street Show. (Photo by Lynn Axelrod)

Papermill Creek Children’s Corner preschool in Point Reyes Station was formed in 1972. The float won 1st place in the Kids’ Drill division and won for Best Drill overall. _________________________________________________________________

In Saturday’s 4-H Fair, Camilla Taylor of Point Reyes-Olema 4-H exhibited a six-month-old Holstein calf named Kay Kay. Camilla, who lives on Bivalve Ranch, said she showed the calf to get it comfortable with the crowds and noise it will encounter in larger livestock shows this summer. ____________________________________________________________________

Olivia Blantz of Nicasio with two Pygmy goats, Nigel (left) and Annabelle. The latter belongs to Olivia’s sister Phoebe.

Olivia, who is a member of Point Reyes-Olema 4-H Club, said the two goats are cousins and were born the same day in February 2013.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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It’s spelled Rabbits. From left on far side of table: Point Reyes-Olema 4-H Club member Ellierose Jackson from Nicasio exhibited a nine-week-old Angora rabbit named Joey; Tri-Valley 4-H Club member Nicole Casartelli showed a Castor mini-rabbit; and San Rafael 4-H Club member Erin Rose Charlton showed a three-year-old Lionhead named Finnegan.

One of the 4-H leaders laughingly told me that a year ago a kid accidentally left out the “T” in an “American Rabbits” sign, making it appear that some “American Rabbis” were entered in that day’s competition. _____________________________________________________________________

In the judging of 4-H projects Saturday, Ruby Clarke won a gold ribbon and Best in Show for a dress. Ashley Winkelmann won a blue ribbon for a romper made for infants, as did Camilla, Olivia and Phoebe for the rompers they each sewed.

The Blantz girls also took ribbons for: photography (Phoebe) and lettuce (Olivia).

Ashley also won a gold ribbon for a knitted hat and a gold for her cake decoration. Ruby took another Best in Show for her tale, “How the Cat Got its Tail.” Her mom, Rhonda Kutter, called it “a tale of a tail.” ________________________________________________________________

Toby’s Feed Barn hosted a barn dance, as well as the queen coronation, Saturday evening. Providing the music was the band Ingrid Noyes and Friends. _____________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile at the entrance to the Feed Barn (Photo by Lynn Axelrod)

As a benefit for the Aztec Dancers, women on Saturday evening sold Mexican dinners and beverages. I enjoyed a delicious pork tamale and a glass of horchata, with which I was unfamiliar. I’m still not sure what all was in it, only that it was white and tasted of cinnamon and vanilla. All in all, a first-rate discovery.