RIT OF I P S E TH
59
Years
Inside...
Contests Rules History of the Shortest Parade ...& much more!
Published by:
Times Publishing Group, Inc.®
Hosted by the Aptos Chamber of Commerce
WE ARE APTOS STRONG
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Table of Contents 4 8 10
How Will We Celebrate the Fourth of July?
12 14
Spirit of Aptos Map
18 22
A Look at the Parades Gone By
Letter from the Aptos Chamber President 4th of July Car Show /Red White and Blue patriotic decorating contest
The World’s Shortest Parade Has Come a Long Way!
World’s Shortest Parade 2019 Prize Winners
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HOW WILL WE CELEBRATE THE FOURTH OF JULY? -By John Hibble What if you gave a party and nobody was allowed to attend? The 4th of July is America’s birthday and many communities have parades to celebrate that fact. The freedom to determine our own future was at the center of the founding of our country. The “World’s Shortest Parade” in Aptos is also about selfdetermination but it was not originally about America’s birthday. In 1959, a zoning change was proposed to allow a concrete batching plant in Aptos Village. The community organized to defeat the zoning change. The first “World’s Shortest Parade” was held in 1961on the fourth of July to celebrate the community’s success. For 58 years the parade has continued down Soquel Drive. However, this year, because of the Corona virus pandemic, we cannot celebrate with an organized parade, a pancake breakfast and a party in the park. Are there creative ways to continue to celebrate our country’s birthday and our freedoms? The Aptos Chamber would like to celebrate Independence Week from July first through the fifth. Decorate your car, whether it be an antique, a classic or a clunker, and drive around town and show off during the week. Please do not pack your car with friends, immediate family only. Car clubs can do the same thing but please do not extend the invitation to your out-of-county members. Let’s keep it local. There are no entry fees but donations to the Aptos Chamber would be appreciated. We are also encouraging local businesses, (open or not), to participate in our Red White and Blue patriotic decorating contest. Show your spirit. Businesses that would like to participate can call the Aptos Chamber at (831) 688-1467 or go online at http://aptoschamber.com/independence-week/. The community at large gets to vote for the contest winner. You be the judge. Drive by and select the most patriotic business display by number. Judging will start on July 1st and end at midnight on July 4th. Vote at www.aptoschamber.com. The winners will be announced on July 5th. The Aptos Chamber will be selling patriotic masks and a very special commemorative T-shirt for this year. The design is on our website and shirts will be available at Deluxe Foods, Aptos Feed and Pet Supply and through the Aptos Chamber. We will also be making a celebration banner for the railroad trestle over Soquel Drive. Businesses and anyone who wants to be listed on the banner can call the chamber or sign up on our website. Let freedom ring! We are Aptos strong! Together, let’s celebrate our Fourth of July Independence Week!
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COME SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESSES IN
FOR 4TH OF JULY CELEBRATION: H New Leaf Market H Sante Arcangeli Family Wines H Mentone Tasting Room H Sockshop & H Cat & Cloud Coffee Shoe Company H Penny Ice Creamery
TOWNHOMES AND CONDOS AVAILABLE! theaptosvillage.com
Contact Alistar Craft 831-234-1092 CaBRE#01402715 or Jerid Keridowski 831-818-1717 CaBRE#01442064
Publisher Patrice Edwards Design Jim Johnson Production Coordinator Camisa Composti Sales Representatives Don Beaumont, Teri Huckobey Contributing Writers John Hibble Photo Credits Aptos History Museum Michael Oppenheimer Cheryl Vessey The Aptos World’s Shortest Parade Official Program 2020 Is a publication of the Times Publishing Group, Inc. Entire contents ©2020 by Patrice Edwards. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any form is prohibited without publisher’s written permission.
Times Publishing Group, Inc. 9601 Soquel Drive, Aptos, CA 95003 Phone: 831.688.7549 Fax: 831.688.7551 Email: sales@cyber-times.com www.tpgonlinedaily.com
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Letter from the Aptos Chamber of Commerce President
Dear Aptos Community, Happy 4th of July! While we cannot be together for our community parade, we hope you can feel the love and support from the Aptos Chamber of Commerce! Each year, our community gathers to celebrate the 4th of July together at the World’s Shortest Parade and postparade festivities in Aptos Village Park. This year, while we cannot celebrate in person, there are several ways you can celebrate the 4th of July in true Aptos style! Local businesses are participating in a 4th of July decorating contest to promote community spirit! Check out the Chamber website (http://aptoschamber.com/ independence-week/) July 1-July 4th (at midnight) to vote for your favorite, most spirited business! Also on the Chamber website (http://aptoschamber.com/ independence-week/), you can pre-order your 4th of July t-shirts! The t-shirts are a sweet way to celebrate the 4th of July and commemorate a year unlike any other. Finally, please join us in celebrating our community by decorating your homes, businesses, and cars to “celebrate our Independence--Independently!” We have many challenges ahead, but we are always stronger together. Stay safe and stay positive! Sincerely, Peggy Pughe, President Aptos Chamber of Commerce Principal, Aptos High School (Go Mariners!!!)
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We might be missing the parade this year, but we are together in spirit.
Happy 4th of July!
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DECORATING YOUR CAR DETAILS
DECORATE YOUR CAR!
It can be an antique, a classic or a clunker, and drive around town and show it off during the week. Please do not pack your car with friends, immediate family only. Car clubs can do the same thing but please do not extend the invitation to your out-of-county members. go to www.Aptoschamber.com for more details.
HAVE YOU SIGNED UP FOR THE Red, White & Blue Decorating Contest? Red White and Blue patriotic decorating contest! We are encouraging local businesses, (open or not), to participate in our businesses decorating contest! Show your spirit. • Register for $25 and we will email participation information including a judging number and rules. • Participants will be added to our website and social media platforms. The community at large gets to vote for the contest winner. • Drive by and select the most patriotic business display by number. • Judging will start on July 1st and end at midnight on July 4th. • Vote at www.aptoschamber.com. The winners will be announced on July 5th. Stay in the community spirit! Order a t-shirt & patriotic mask today!
Together, let’s celebrate our fourth of July Independence Week!
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2020
GRAND MARSHAL
SPIRIT OF APTOS ESSENTIAL WORKERS Thank you to all essential workers who have hung in there and worked through
this trying time! You have been there for us day after day, through thick and thin, and always with a smile on your faces! We appreciate you and honor you for your hard work. Pat yourselves on your back! You know who you are! The entire community of Aptos thanks you!
We here at TPG would like to send our gratitude to all the mail carriers for their continued work. It is because of you that our work at Times Publishing Group can continue to serve our communities throughout Santa Cruz County.
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RIT OF I P S E TH
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World’s Shortest Parade Has Come a Long Way!
Parade Founder: Lucile Aldrich -by John Hibble
is America’s birthday and many communities have parades to celebrate that fact. The freedom to determine our own future was at the center of the founding of our country. The “World’s Shortest Parade” in Aptos is also about selfdetermination but it was not originally about America’s birthday. The Granite Rock Company, founded in 1900, has been an important part of the history of Santa Cruz County. The great construction boom in houses and highways in the late 1950s and ‘60s meant that Granite had to build new cement batching plants to supply the need for concrete throughout the region. Cement, sand, and aggregate are stored at the batching plant and mixed to order, then sent out in giant “cement mixer” trucks to the construction sites. In 1959, the last remnants of the apple industry in Aptos Village closed down. Aptos was an industrial town with no industry. Granite Rock Company purchased land in the Village and applied to the county for a zoning change to build a batching plant. That is why the street across from the Post Office is named Granite Way. There is nothing wrong with a concrete plant but no one in Aptos
Village wanted it in their back yard. Locals rose up against the proposal. Concerned women formed the “Aptos Ladies Tuesday Evening Society” and organized themselves to defeat the zoning change. The group included Lucille Aldrich, Anne Isaacs, Babe Toney, Peggy Marceron, Jessie Elliott, Birdie Jacobs, Beverly Palmer, Nola Gales, Pat Thompson, Joyce West, Peggy Hunter, Mrs. Harrison Smith, Dee Small, Betty Jo Jensen, and Nita Jellison. Their efforts were successful. To celebrate their victory, a barbecue was held on Memorial Day, 1961, in the field next to the railroad track. The event was so popular that a parade and pot continued on page 16
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Serving the Agricultural Community Since 1924
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luck were planned to follow on the fourth of July. Everyone turned out in old fashioned clothes and the Monterey Bay Antique Car Club brought 18 vintage cars. The parade route was from the Driftwood Gas Station at Trout Gulch Road (where Bay Federal Credit Union is now located) to the Pop Inn restaurant, (formerly Little OWL Italian Kitchen and now the Parish Publick House). The parade only lasted ten minutes and that is how the “World’s Shortest Parade” got its name. The second year, the “Sun Tan Special,” the train that once transported visitors from the San Francisco Peninsula to Santa Cruz, was in its final year of service. The Aptos Ladies had planted red, white and blue petunias along the railroad track from the Bay View Hotel to the Pop Inn. When the train reached Aptos on July 4th, the engineer stopped the train so that the passengers could get off and enjoy the festivities. “It was a happy coincidence that the parade coincided with the train passing through,” recalled Lucile Aldrich. Games were also held in the field including sack races, a watermelon eating contest, horseshoes, kick the can, peanut runs, shoe kicking, and foot races. The third year, the American Legion post was the first to set up a food booth with chili, coffee and pies. The following year, the Pop Inn offered hot dogs and soft drinks. Santa Cruz Dairy Farms wanted to sell ice cream so Lucile asked them to bring a cow for a milking contest. They brought two cows for five or six years but eventually the herd was moved away which ended the contest. In the mid-1970s the games and food booths were moved to Aptos Village Park which had just been completed. The pancake breakfast was added in 1987, as a cooperative venture between the Aptos Chamber of Commerce and the Aptos Lions Club and is currently organized by the Chamber and the Search and Rescue Team. In 1992, after thirty years of successful parade organization, the Aptos Ladies Tuesday Evening Society retired from the job and turned the parade over to the Aptos Chamber of Commerce. The once tiny parade has grown into a huge event for Aptos. The “World’s Shortest Parade” has gained national recognition as one of only seven Fourth of July parades recommended in 2013 as the “Best” by prestigious Condé Nast Traveler. Though there will be no parade this year, the history stays with us. Celebrate the Fourth of July this year by checking out the businesses that have decorated, and the cars. When you are driving through Aptos and see a decorated car, give them a wave!
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2020 Aptos 4 th of July Parade 59 th Anniversary
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A Look at the Parades Gone By
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A Look at the Parades Gone By
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APTOS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Presents
59th Year
4th of July Contest
2020 Sponsors Full Event Sponsors: Ruth Bates Real Estate Manuel’s Mexican Restaurant Erik’s DeliCafe Shanne Carvahlo Real Estate Team UCSC Interior Visions Bay Federal Credit Union New Leaf Community Markets Allen Property Group Rio Sands nomBat Branding 7Roots Creative Bubble Lounge Aptos Feed & Pet Supply Deluxe Foods of Aptos
Aptos 59 Years The Aptos 4th of July parade is happily anticipated by townspeople every year. We are unable to have the parade this year so we are celebrating the Spirit of Aptos! Our small town has a HUGE spirit. Come on Aptos, show your 4th of July spirit and join in the Celebration Week activities! Remember...it takes a village!
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World’s Shortest Parade 2019 Prize Winners Grand Prize Best of Parade: Agape Dance Academy Crowd Pleaser: Aptos All Stars
Adult Groups First Prize: Ukulele Club Judges’ Choice: E. Campus Vitus
Bands First Prize: Grand Slam Judges’ Choice: Watsonville Community Band
Cars First Prize: Linda Lawrence 1932 Green Chevy Judges’ Choice: Justin Leonard 1961Cadillac
Children’s Groups First Prize: Cub Scouts 676 Judges’ Choice: Cancer Support Services/Jacob’s Heart
Floats First Prize: Vinosaurus Rex/Truck Judges’ Choice: Pleasant Valley Horse Club
Individual First Prize: Russell Ellingworth/Tug Boat Judges’ Choice: Paul Lewis Hoffman/Continental Army Soldier
Pets Best Costume: West Coast Great Pyrenees Judges’ Choice: Monterey Dog Training Club
Trucks First Prize: Aptos Ace Hardware Judges’ Choice: SSSP Truck
Schools Most Spirited: Aptos High School
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