The Village of Arroyo Grande is transforming for the citys annual harvest festival.
Carrie Rosewall-Gallagher has been coming to the Arroyo Grande Harvest Festival since her children, now grown, were little.
I love this community, and one of the most important things about Arroyo Grande is the community,” Rosewall-Gallagher said. “It is the people. They come out for every event.
The harvest festival has been an Arroyo Grande tradition since 1937. The two-day event hosts local vendors, live music, and a parade on Saturday morning.
JR Garcia is the Harvest Festival Committee’s president.
Our slogan for the last few years has been ‘where community grows,’ because here in Arroyo Grande, we really want to pay attention to that,” Garcia said. “This is where community grows; we’re the largest event in Arroyo Grande as far as, like, a festival goes. It’s privately run with a co-sponsor of the city, so they can expect just a good time, good community, just everybody coming together.
The parade is set to cause a few road closures near The Village. Garcia said the committee worked with local police and fire to minimize the number of closures.
The parade starts at 10 a.m. Saturday, but rolling closures will start at 6 a.m., so all of the roads are completely closed by 8 a.m. Parts of Branch Street, Mason Street, and Poole Street will be closed until noon on Saturday. Nelson Street, Short Street, and Bridge Street will be closed until 6 p.m.
Local businesses say road closures arent stopping foot traffic in the village.
The parade passes by the front doors of Mule Bakery. Barista Peter Ljepava said many people going to the parade stop at the bakery for a caffeine boost.
So everyone who’s coming here trying to get a seat to watch the parade or walk around or do all the fun stuff, they start in here first,” Ljepava said.
Garcia said they anticipate around 5,000 people during this years celebrations. Ljepava said they see a bump in sales thanks to the festival, and they make sure to prepare ahead of time to get extra supplies for the weekend.
We make extra stuff because it does get pretty busy down here,” Ljepava said. “So we try to fill up the window and make sure that there’s not a bunch of people that get bummed out because we sold the last croissant that they want or scone or something. We try to make sure that we’re making enough to, to accommodate everybody.
The harvest festival kicked off Friday at 4 p.m. and ends on Saturday at the same time.