Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Apple Blossom Festival award winners announced

Monday, May 5, 2008
Chew your food? Forget it Kids pig out at pie-eating contest
WENATCHEE — Apples gross her out, but Baylee Fontaine entered the pie-eating contest anyway.

Getting a crash course in remote flying
EAST WENATCHEE — Bob Patterson's heart broke Sunday in a wreck of splintered wood and wings.

Deer Park float wins top honor
Here are the award winners for the 2008 Apple Blossom Festival Stemilt Growers Grand Parade:

Malaga man takes top Classy Chassis award
EAST WENATCHEE — The top award at this year's Les Schwab Classy Chassis Parade and Car Show went to Dave Poirier of Malaga.

A look back at Apple Blossom 2008
WENATCHEE — The people are gone. The food fair is closed and the parades are over, making the 89th Washington State Apple Blossom Festival just a memory.

Saturday, May 3, 2008
Apple Blossom trailer offers a chance to be a video star
WENATCHEE —It seemed fitting Natalie Petri performed Carrie Underwood's "Jesus Take The Wheel" Friday night because the 10-year-old songstress sang her heart out as if she was on an episode of "American Idol."

Festival highlights
Saturday's events

Car enthusiasts roll out their wheels
EAST WENATCHEE — Classic cars of almost every era rolled and rumbled through the 23rd Annual Les Schwab Classy Chassis Parade Friday evening to the delight of thousands of spectators.

Friday, May 2, 2008
Coyote to lead the salmon up the parade route
WENATCHEE — Coyote is up to his old tricks again. Saturday, he'll be in the Stemilt Growers Grand Parade, leading a willing school of salmon up a simulated Columbia River so the P'squosa Indians will have plenty to eat.

Once a queen ... 1998
1998: Queen Krista Berschauer Beck

Get away from it all: The anti-Apple Blossom guide
WENATCHEE — Apple Blossom can get rotten fast when you're living in it: the stench of car exhaust, the crowds, the noise.

Police plan heavy street presence this weekend
WENATCHEE — Among the expected crowds downtown tonight and Saturday night will be plenty of police.

Festival highlights: Today's, Saturday's and Sunday's events
Today's events

The Grand event — The lineup: More than 120 entries
This lineup is subject to change due to last-minute cancellations and additions.

Grand marshals are world-class athletes
Laura Valaas and Tyler Farrar have teamed up before. This year they are the Stemilt Growers Grand Parade grand marshals. In 1994 Valaas and Farrar were members of a Ridge to River Relay team named Kids Pres On For First. The two were fourth graders at Newbery Elementary School. At the time, they were the youngest team ever to compete in Ridge to River. Valaas cross-country skied and Farrar kayaked.

Thursday, May 1, 2008
This parade special for 'Demps'
WENATCHEE — For 22 years he's been best known as KPQ Radio's Voice of the Panthers. He's always loved sports more than cars.

Once a queen ... 1988
1988: Heather Smith Hansen

Rain or shine, Classy Chassis rolls through East Wenatchee Friday
EAST WENATCHEE — The forecast calls for clouds and a chance of showers Friday evening, but regardless of the weather the 23rd Annual Les Schwab Classy Chassis Parade begins at 6:30 p.m.

Festival highlights: Today's and Friday's events
Today's events

On garbage detail with a mission
WENATCHEE — Have you noticed how clean Memorial Park stays through 11 days of Apple Blossom Food Fair madness? It doesn't just happen that tens of thousands of greasy paper plates, chicken bones, portions of unfinished sticky rice, millions of mustard-stained napkins and a swill of pop and crushed paper cups make their orderly way into trash cans rather than being strewn and wind-blown all over town. Not that people are messy. But think what would happen if those receptacles weren't emptied every hour or so.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Mini-mariachis: Kids perform at festival
WENATCHEE — Mini-mariachis with large-sized musical ambitions took to the Memorial Park stage Tuesday to kick off an afternoon of Mexican-style color and sound.

Seen at the Apple Blossom Youth Parade
Postcard-perfect weather was only part of the story at Saturday's Keyes Fibre Youth Parade. Clowns, goats, princesses, junior mariachis and gymnasts, ice cream, umbrella sunshades and blow-up toys helped fill out the scene along the parade route. Click on Additional Photos in Related Links for more photos from Wenatchee World photographer Kathryn Stevens. For updated photos from this year's festival, be sure to check out the daily photo galleries at wenatcheeworld.com.

Festival highlights: Today's and Thursday's events
Today's events

Tuesday, April 29, 2008
To explain the unexplainable
You have to admit, Wenatchee. It is a little odd.

Carnival crowds enjoy balmy evening
WENATCHEE — Monday was a big night on the town for three East Wenatchee boys.

Festival highlights: Today's and Wednesday's events
Today's events

Monday, April 28, 2008
Stager of the bands
WENATCHEE — Hundreds of young musicians filed off their buses at Triangle Park Saturday with instruments in their hands and lost looks on their faces.

Apple Blossom Youth Parade at a glance
Youth Parade by the numbers

Crowd squeals for hambitious tricks
WENATCHEE — That was some pig.

Clowning around and becoming a kid again at Apple Blossom
WENATCHEE — Newspaper reporters typically act as passive observers, chronicling events as they see them through the use of the written word.

Seen at Apple Blossom: Today's and Tuesday's events
Today's events

Saturday, April 26, 2008
Apple Blossom Weekend events
Saturday’s events
◆ Fiddlers’ Contest: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Eastmont Junior High School
◆ Los Orchids: 5 p.m., Memorial Park
◆ Wenatchee Big Band: 6:30 p.m., Memorial Park
◆ Chrissy Alexander & Roughstock: 8 p.m., Memorial Park

Sunday’s events
◆ Fiddlers’ Contest: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Eastmont Junior High School
◆ Valentine’s Performing Pigs: 11 a.m., Memorial Park
◆ Art 4 Kidz: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Memorial Park
◆ Buck & Elizabeth: Noon, Memorial Park
◆ Show & Shine Motorcycle Extravaganza: 1 to 3 p.m., RiverWest Retirement Community parking lot
◆ Ride the Miniature Train: 1 to 5 p.m., Wenatchee Riverfront Park
◆ Squish: 3:45 p.m., Memorial Park
◆ Dream Alley Studios: 5 p.m., Memorial Park
◆ Samantha Meyers: 5:40 p.m., Memorial Park
◆ Fabulous Feet: 6 p.m., Memorial Park
◆ WHS Apple-ettes Dance Team: 6:30 p.m., Memorial Park
◆ The Dancing Irish: 7 p.m., Memorial Park
◆ EHS Dance Team: 7:30 p.m., Memorial Park

Youth parade floats get finishing touches
WENATCHEE — If you bite into a golden brown, freshly made cinnamon roll from the Apple Slice Bakery, warm and gooey might not be the first sensations your mouth feels.

Once a queen
1968: Queen Gail Ross Wenaweser

Funtastic Shows carnival increases wristband price
WENATCHEE — Last week the Funtastic Shows carnival decided to change the Pay One Price (POP) wristband price from $20 to $22. The additional $2 is a fuel surcharge.

Yee-hah! A whole lot of fiddlin' goin' on
EAST WENATCHEE — It's that old-time fiddle music that kinda gets in your blood. Hoedowns, waltzes, polkas and the like. Traditional country and lots of western swing.

When did you place your chair?
WENATCHEE — If comedian Jeff Foxworthy wrote a joke book about Wenatchee residents, his first crack might go something like this: "You might be a Wenatcheeite if you put a chair on the sidewalk in March."

Friday, April 25, 2008
Let the festival begin
WENATCHEE — So many choices. So much time. The food fair can pose a problem for those on a diet. Or not.

Today through Sunday at Apple Blossom
Note: In tonight's newspaper, and in this online post earlier, the Fiddler's Contest was incorrectly placed at Eastmont High School. It's at Eastmont Junior High.
Today's events

Once a queen ... Profile of a former Apple Blossom Queen (1958)
1958: Ann Albertson Deal

Thursday, April 24, 2008
Once a queen ... Profile of a former Apple Blossom Queen (1948)
1948: Lila Lee "Merle" Hatley Garland, 78

Life with a traveling show
WENATCHEE — "The office" arrived in a caravan of 45 semitrucks last week. Unloading it all — the colossal amusement rides, bright-colored booths, oversized toys — was just another day on the job.

Today at Apple Blossom
Today's events

Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Queen Justine
Apple Blossom Queen Justine Vanderpool shows her daring side with this snake found in her family's orchard. Read more about Vanderpool and other festival-related stories in the Apple Blossom 2008 special section today in Neighbors.

Royally organized
Justine Vanderpool is on top of things.

Classy Chassis struts its stuff
Don't worry, it's OK to stare.

Meet Queen Justine
Queen Justine is scheduled to be at these public locations as part of her festival duties:

Apple Blossom Festival trivia
The Ladies Musical Club produced the first Apple Blossom Festival in 1920. The one-day event at Memorial Park was called "Blossom Day" and included songs, speeches and baseball.

Official portrait
2008 Washington State Apple Blossom Royalty. From left, Princess Nicole Brown, Queen Justine Vanderpool and Princess Emily Love. Vanderpool was queen of the festival's junior royalty in 2001. Her mother, Rebecca, was an Apple Blossom princess in 1987. The royal court rode this year's festival float to a first-place finish in the Daffodil Festival Grand Floral Street Parade in the Tacoma area on April 12. The float took first place in the parade's community division that included cities with a population of more than 10,000.

Food fair vendors serve up a wide variety of offerings
Hungry for some tasty treats? Make your way over to the food fair at Memorial Park, where there are a variety of vendors who wait to tantalize your tastebuds. The food fair opens Thursday and will continue daily throughout the festival from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., although some vendors may stay open later. Here are this year's vendors and their offerings:

Apple Blossom Festival Grand Parade lineup
Pre-parade

Youth Parade lineup
00. Wenatchee Police — Volunteers In Police Services

Sticking to the tried and true: Home in on this year's Apple Blossom highlights
You've probably already begun making your Apple Blossom plans.

Apple Blossom Festival event schedule
Throughout the festival

Friday, April 11, 2008
Jimmy Neutron, youth parade grand marshal
WENATCHEE — The grand marshal of the Keyes Fibre Youth Parade will be “Jimmy Neutron,” star of the popular Nickelodeon cartoon of the same name.

Thursday, April 3, 2008
It's starting
First Apple Blossom Festival parade route chair?

Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Spring cleaning snowed out
WENATCHEE — The city of Wenatchee is behind schedule on spring cleaning, leaving crews scrambling to sweep and paint the streets before the Apple Blossom Festival begins April 25.