Festival as a tool for time travel – ORANGE COUNTY TRIBUNE

FESTIVAL AREA in the 1960s when the event was held at Garden Grove Park (GGSFA photo).

The Ferris wheel and carousels at the annual Garden Grove Strawberry Festival are not just carnival devices for me. They rather resemble colorful time machines.

Every Memorial Day weekend, the area in and around the Village Green park at Main and Euclid streets downtown takes me back at least half a century and gives new visitors a glimpse of how people had fun before iPads and streaming services; before artificial intelligence made having imagination an optional part of thinking.

A time traveler – and I suspect such people may actually exist – wouldn’t feel out of place strolling through the park grounds or lining up with the crowds on Euclid to watch the parade.

Just as they did around 1960 – or even earlier – marching bands performed in their colorful uniforms, cheerful music flowed from the calliope, and boys and girls looked at each other as they walked halfway between the games and the food stands.

At night, everything lights up and illuminates the area with a neon glow that would be familiar to drivers driving Nash Ramblers, Ford Falcons and Chevrolet Corvairs.

Traveling carnivals and local festivals are as American as apple pie (and pizza, tacos, bagels and pho), and there is no indication that they will fade away in favor of some electronic alternative.

No microchip can – at least not yet – replicate the experience of biting into cotton candy and a hot dog while watching and staring at people’s colors and sounds. This experience has connected generations for over half a century and will undoubtedly continue. and so on …