As theme deadline nears, a look back at past county fairs

Diana Tomasini at the Witches’ Hut, where she cut hair until hanging up her shears. Del Norte Triplicate / Laura Wiens

A hairstylist at various Crescent City locations since about the time Nixon resigned in the Watergate scandal, Diana is leaving the Witches’ Hut that she’s run at the back of Tomasini’s Enoteca for seven years and moving across the floor to run The Enchanted Florist inside the same building at 960 Third St.

“I always tell everybody I’ll see you on the other side,” Diana said.

That’s no deep philosophical statement, but recognition that the flower shop is within sight of the door leading to the barber chairs. Now flowers will be her full-time gig.

Diana’s daughter, Sacha, and Sacha’s husband, Zachary, run the restaurant well-known for its lunch and dinner fare, as well as its Trivia Night and live music.

The Witches’ Hut will live on, but Diana did her last haircutting Thursday. “I’m getting old,” she said in a bit of an exaggeration. “I stood on cement for a lot of years.”

Some pretty fair themes

In case you didn’t catch the little item in the March 2 Triplicate, the deadline is fast approaching for submitting ideas of the theme of this year’s 120th Del Norte County Fair. 

Sonia Cuellar and Brenton Cobb

Sonia is the daughter of Kirsten Randrup and Ron Cole, both of Crescent City.

Brenton is the son of Allen Cobb and Charlott and Dean Baker, all of Crescent City.

Daniel Goodwin and Jessica Kaiser

Jessica is the daughter of John and Robin Kaiser of Capistrano Beach, and Anna Rippin of Streetsboro, Ohio. 

Daniel is the son of Beverly Brand and Dale Condon of Crescent City, and the late Gary Goodwin.

Paige Goodwin, daughter of the groom, was the maid of honor. The ceremony was held at the home of the bride’s aunt and uncle, Cheri and Mark Geiser.

Ron Gastineau

This is amazing because I just got some sad news from our friends up in Brookings that May 6 will be their last MUG meeting and they will be disbanding.

It brings up the question: Are Mac user groups still relevant in the age of the Internet and iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad? Why meet once a month in person when all the answers are online with just a simple search away?

And, who uses Macs anymore when an iPad or iPhone can do most of the things, like surf the web, get email and watch videos, that a Mac does?

Well, I believe user groups are still relevant and I’m going to tell you why. Even though some of us have iPhones, iPods and iPads and we take them everywhere collecting pictures, shooting video and posting on Facebook, we still need a central place to bring all those great memories back to store them, manipulate them and share them with our families and friends. We do that on our Macs with the free software Apple ships with them: iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb, even iTunes.

It’s awesome having mobile iDevices, but when you really want to get serious work (or even fun gaming) done, it’s done on your MacBook or iMac or Mac Pro, where you can put together a slideshow or memory book or YouTube movie or DVD or website ... the possibilities are almost endless.

Wild Rivers Community Foundation has announced the 2013 Summer Youth Mini-Grant Program. Through partnerships, grants are available to help support summer programs serving children in Del Norte and Curry counties.

 Grants averaging approximately $500 will be awarded to groups/organizations providing summer programs for Del Norte and Curry County youths from June 1 to Sept. 1. Funds can be used for a variety of program costs: arts and crafts supplies, sports or recreational equipment, field trips, special events or providing scholarships for children who would not otherwise be able to participate.

 Last year, 1,647 children and youths in 23 organizations through partnerships were supported in having healthy and safe summer activities around Curry and Del Norte counties.

Classic Cougars: A poster included the team photo and some of the victories of Crescent Elk’s 1972 seventh-graders and 1973 eighth-graders. Submitted

I am proud to say that I helped get the fifth- and sixth-grade program off the ground in 1969 as a seventh- and eighth-grade physical education teacher and coach. Working with the Rec Department, we hired the Warrior varsity players as coaches. When not coaching, their teams would officiate, score or time the games.

It was a great experience for the varsity players as coaches and mentors, and the young players who looked up to their Warrior heroes. In later years, the third- and fourth-grade program was added to give these young kids a positive and healthy outlook.

My grandson, Chase Blackburn, son of Danny and Star Blackburn, plays in the fifth- and sixth-grade league. I have watched him and his teammates involve themselves more deeply in the game since their third- and fourth-grade years. The parents’ role in both of these leagues is to just sit back and enjoy these young athletes. I have also watched my grandson “Colee” play in the younger league. He goes 100 mph every game.

Watching these little ones play brings back great memories of my 33 years of teaching and coaching in Del Norte County. In the fall of 1961, I proudly stepped in to work with the mighty proud Redwood Raiders in Fort Dick. An opportunity came up to move into the Crescent Elk Physical Education Department in 1966 after my dear friend Larry Amos moved up to Del Norte High School in physical education and as athletic director.

Carl Rovainen, left, of Brookings, and George Layton, of Crescent City, Boon Dock Band founders, perform at an outdoor festival. “Carl never met a stranger,” said Layton. “He was very encouraging, always welcoming, no matter what a person’s skill level was. He just wanted to bring music to the world.” Submitted

Carl Rovainen was co-founder of Boon Dock Band

Usually seen with a banjo in his hands, Carl Rovainen helped bring people in Crescent City and Brookings together through music for more than a decade.

The tall, slender, bespectacled, talented multi-instrumentalist always had a smile and a song to share with others. And when the Brookings resident wasn’t singing and playing his “old-time” music at public events and care facilities up and down the coast, he was delighting audiences with his acting on community theater stages.

Rovainen died March 1 after being diagnosed with incurable cancer in January. He was 73.

For the last decade, it seemed he was everywhere. 

Nearly every day of the week he could be found with a handful of local musicians playing music for residents of any one of the dozen care facilities in Brookings and Crescent City. 

Part of a loosely-knit group of musicians called the Boon Dock Band, Rovainen could be found entertaining the masses at local festivals, art walks, fundraisers and other public events that called for live music. He played music for children in local schools and served as a volunteer music teacher.

Former principal Tony Fabricius returns to Joe Hamilton School as the Cat in the Hat annually to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday. Del Norte Triplicate / Bryant Anderson

It’s become an annual ritual to celebrate the birthday of legendary children’s author Dr. Seuss. Tony paints his face white, dresses up like the Cat in the Hat complete with whiskers and tail, and reads to the kids, class after class, hour after hour.

Ms. Webster’s 16 first-graders were treated to Tony’s reading of “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” as the picture-pages were projected on the wall.

They’d started the day by making green eggs and ham.

The school’s day-long celebration includes activities like “Horton’s Egg Roll,” “the Hop on Pop Hop,” “Fox in Socks Run,” “Yurtle Turtle’s Swing,” “Cat’s Obstacle Course,” “Lorax Jumping Jacks” and “Sam I Am’s Egg Carry.”

“It’s just a fun day,” said principal Denise Harnden. “It encourages the love of reading.”

H.E.R.E. is where it’s at

Del Norte’s mild climate provides the opportunity for long growing seasons. Barbara Allison makes the most of that with her hundreds of heather plants providing a year-round patchwork of colors outside her Crescent City home.

She’s become an aficionado of the small-flowered shrub, even serving as secretary of the Heather Enthusiasts of the Redwood Empire (H.E.R.E.). The local chapter of the North American Heather Society has been around since 1994 and has about 30 members, but it could use reinforcements.

Like any plant, heather needs upkeep with trimming, weeding and refurbishing.

The Del Norte and Humboldt dairy industry is now accepting applications from young women wishing to compete for the District 1 Dairy Princess crown.

The winner will represent the dairy industry in District 1 as a spokeswoman and will also represent the California dairy industry in appearances at schools, fairs, industry meetings, service clubs, parades and with the media. The newly selected princess will also participate in a week of training that includes industry tours, presentation and etiquette training.

Contestants must meet the following requirements: 1) Be at least a junior in high school up to 21 years of age by contest date; 2) Be unmarried; and 3) Family must own a dairy farm, work for the dairy industry or have a dairy-related background. 

Applicants are urged to submit their applications as soon as possible. The application deadline is March 29, 2013.