By F. Jerome Doyle
As the temperatures grow warmer and the days grow longer, Los Gatans know that the Eastfield Ming Quong Strawberry Festival is drawing near. On June 1 and 2, the Los Gatos Civic Center will again be transformed into a strawberry lover's dream. Thousands of visitors will flock to Los Gatos in celebration of the strawberry--and for a good cause. Last year, the Strawberry Festival raised a record $80,000 for the children of EMQ. A volunteer force of more than 1,000 local individuals, service groups, businesses and youth groups contributed to this incredible success by working in all areas of the festival from selling tickets to flipping pancakes.
As President and CEO of EMQ, I have had the privilege and honor to know and work with many of these volunteers. Without this critical support, we would not be able to raise the charitable dollars that provide the funding for our services for emotionally-troubled children and their families.
What is now our largest fundraising event of the year actually began 36 years ago as a small backyard sale to raise allowance money for the children of Ming Quong. It was soon moved to the grounds of the Ming Quong campus on Loma Alta Avenue and grew into a two-day festival by 1968. In 1980, the festival outgrew the campus and was moved to the Los Gatos Civic Center.
Today, the Strawberry Festival draws thousands of visitors to Los Gatos. Part of the festival's charm is the town in which it is located. With its scenic hillsides, quaint shops and good restaurants, it's no surprise that people want to visit Los Gatos. Hopefully they will return to Los Gatos for some shopping or to dine in one of the many fine restaurants Los Gatos has to offer.
The Strawberry Festival offers activities for everyone to enjoy. Whether it's browsing through arts and crafts displays, listening to some great bands on a warm summer day, taking children to a carnival, or treating yourself to a strawberry sundae, the Strawberry Festival has something for everyone.
The Strawberry Festival is a family-centered, nonalcoholic festival. Children and families are the heart and soul of EMQ. Many of our families struggle with issues of chemical dependency. Across the world, chemical dependency is a problem that may be involved in more than two-thirds of child abuse and neglect cases, abuse that often leads to emotional trauma in many of the children we treat. In keeping with EMQ's mission, we have continued to be a nonalcoholic festival that provides wholesome fun for children and families.
The Strawberry Festival is a community-supported event. We're now seeing second- and even third-generation festival-goers who are continuing the tradition of giving back to the community they live in by volunteering or participating in the festival as customers.
The event continues to flourish thanks to a core volunteer committee that works year-round on all aspects of planning the festival. This year's festival will boast 72 arts and crafts vendors, more than 50 food booths and over 20 entertainers. Participants will be coming from as far away as Phoenix, and increased popularity has generated waiting lists for entertainers, arts and crafts and
food vendors.
This year's entertainers include many well-known bands and groups performing everything from country to reggae.
At this year's festival, you can enjoy everything from traditional festival cuisine like hamburgers and hot dogs to such specialties as rosemary garlic chicken, Cajun goodies and a wide variety of ethnic foods. And of course, there will be multiple strawberry delights to choose from!
As the festival has grown over the years, so has the traffic and congestion in Los Gatos during this weekend. We recognize the inconvenience this places on residents and downtown merchants. We acknowledge the difficulties the festival may create for some of you and wish to thank you in advance for your continued support and understanding of our work with troubled children.
We also appreciate the cooperation of town officials and other governmental agencies who work with us every year to make the festival such a success. In particular, we wish to acknowledge the support from Los Gatos Police Sgt. Michael Yorks; Michael LaRocca, the town's director of parks, forestry and maintenance; John Iaquinto, parks and forestry superintendent; Tim Boyer, parks and forestry supervisor; and Julie Linney, deputy fire marshal, Central Fire District.
I encourage all of you to become involved in this community event by participating next week at the Strawberry Festival. The dollars you spend that weekend will go to help heal some very special children. For further information on EMQ's programs or to volunteer, please feel free to call us at 364-4081.
F. Jerome Doyle is President and CEO of Eastfield Ming Quong.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, May 22, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved