Publication Date: Wednesday, May 05, 2004
BARRON PARK
Making May merry
Making May merry
(May 05, 2004) Last Saturday's parade down University Avenue isn't the only Fete in town
by Jocelyn Dong
If you're walking in Palo Alto a couple Sundays from now and come across two donkeys, maypole dancing, a steam train, a middle-school band and piles of burritos, it can only be one thing -- you've happened upon the Barron Park May Fete party.
The city's lesser-known celebration of all things spring, the Barron Park May Fete has gained a reputation for being as eclectic as the neighborhood that sponsors it. Dog-agility show? Electric vehicles? Spring-hat contest? Pottery-wheel demonstration? Pet sheep? Shish kabobs?
Over its 26-year history, they've had it all, residents recall.
They even had beer, until some rowdy behavior led the organizers to can that aspect for good, said Will Beckett, who has been involved since the fetes began.
"I wouldn't say we had trouble," said Beckett -- joking, however, that things have become quite orderly since they started inviting the Neighborhood Watch group, which usually means a police officer and a canine or two.
On May 16, the Barron Park neighbors will celebrate May Fete from noon till 4 p.m. in Juana Briones Park, along Arastradero Road in south Palo Alto. Attendance can reach as many as 400 people.
"We see it as a big party for the (Barron Park) community, a way for people to connect," said Maryanne Welton, the event's food coordinator. "It's a great community builder."
It takes about 50 people to put on the event, a far cry from its roots as a family celebration hosted by former resident Paul Edwards. As a youngster in the 1950s, he had become entranced by the English maypole tradition when he participated in them in Rinconada Park, according to the Barron Park Association Web site.
A maypole dance involves a tall pole with colorful ribbons attached at the top. Each dancer grabs the end of a ribbon and, dancing either clockwise or counter-clockwise, they weave the ribbons around the pole.
By the 1970s, Edwards was organizing informal maypole dances for family and friends in one of the neighborhood's two parks, Bol Park. In 1978, the neighborhood association decided to build a community celebration around Edwards' maypole tradition, and Barron Park's May Fete took off.
It's the maypole dance that Welton enjoys the most.
"It's beautiful -- the ribbons shimmering in the breeze, people weaving in and out, the huge basket of fresh flowers (on top of the pole)," Welton said. "There's something wonderful about the kids looking up and seeing it all. It's magical."
It's also, apparently, quite a recruitment tool for the neighborhood association. Some Barron Park volunteers have been known to get involved in organizing the fete, and then found themselves taking on other responsibilities in the neighborhood association as well.
The stars of the party, however, aren't two-legged neighbors, but the four-footed kind: Miner 49er (aka Miner or Niner) and Pericles (aka Perry), the Barron Park donkeys. Residents of Bol Park, they're trotted out every year for some meet-and-greet time. This year, they'll be at the park for about one hour.
This year, Perry's already had his time in the sun, with the release of the movie "Shrek 2." A miniature donkey, Perry was the model for the equine sidekick (voiced by Eddie Murphy) to movie ogre Shrek. According to Barron Park Association president Doug Moran, the TV show "Evening Magazine" stopped by a few months ago for some face time with the hay-munching celebrity.
Although Bol Park was the original home to the May Fete, the celebration branched out to Briones Park in 1992, when the city started renovating Bol. The move to Briones pleasantly surprised the organizers in the 1,600-household neighborhood.
"We felt it was a better way to connect with our members from the south end of the neighborhood," said Doug Graham, chair of the fete committee. Now, they're considering alternating the festival between the parks each year.
Unlike many May Fete-goers, Graham is less interested in the Senor Taco burritos, face painting and maypole dancing than talking about Barron Park history with neighbors. Quite possibly the city's foremost expert on the neighborhood, he sets up a display each year at the festival.
The information sharing doesn't go just one way.
"People I've met have contributed materials and knowledge," said Graham, whose home has become something of a repository of artifacts and photos.
He acknowledged that his favorite May Fete activity is "unusual." But, for a tradition that has had everything from Celtic music to dog-and-hamster parades, sitting in the sun and trading historical tidbits just seems par for the course.
Senior staff writer Jocelyn Dong can be reached at jdong@paweekly.com
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