Hanford Insider: Downtown Blues Festival and some other news you may not have heard yet.

Cold Open And Weekly Preview

SPEAKER_01 0:00

On this week's Hanford Insider, Jim Castleman gives a preview of the 25th annual Blues and Roots Festival. Rob has your community news, and I'll be back with your sports report. It's a great show coming your way. This is the Hanford Insider for September 7th.

Community Headlines And Local Wins

SPEAKER_03 0:37

Hey everybody, welcome to the Hanford Insider. I'm your host, Rob Bentley, bringing you community news and the positive stories that make Kings County a great place to call home. In community news this week, we got some really good news regarding China Alley restoration efforts. The Asian and Pacific Islander Americans in Historic Preservation announced that China Alley is the recipient of a $50,000 grant to rebuild the Taoist Temple staircase and complete soot remediation after the May 2021 arson fire. China Alley is one of the last remaining rural Chinatowns in the country and deserves our support. Learn how you can support ongoing restoration efforts at China Alley.com. The Kings County Farm Bureau announced last week that Joe Neves is the recipient of the Kings County Farm Bureau Pete Hance Lifetime Achievement Award. Joe has spent decades supporting agriculture and is a leader in advocating for local producers and processors. Joe will be honored at the Farm Bureau annually meeting on November 19th. Congratulations, Joe. Congratulations to the Hanford Police Activities Boxing League team. They recently participated in the International POW Boxing Championships with 20 wins and only five losses. They had one bronze medalist, four silver medalists, and received the national championships in the open division were Aidan Avala, David Herrera, and Javendano. Congratulations, guys. If you're just learning about the POW boxing program, you should go back to the February 23rd episode of the podcast to hear from Coach Ruben Valdavinos how this program is changing the lives of youth in our community. Another congratulations to the Hanford Future Farmers of America for recently being recognized nationally as a three-star chapter. This is the highest ranking that a chapter can receive.

Calendar Picks And How To Submit

SPEAKER_03 2:32

Now let's take a look at this week's community calendar. At the Thursday Marketplace this week, it's Farmers Appreciation Night with music by the Roots Rockers. On Friday, September 11th, the Hanford Police Honor Guard will be holding a 9-11 flag raising ceremony at 6 a.m. in front of the Hanford Police Station. On Sunday, September 13th, the New Testament Baptist Church will be holding a gathering at the Hanford Civic Auditorium to remember the September 11th attacks on our country 25 years ago. The service will include lunch, special music, a Bible message, and an opportunity to meet the heroes behind the uniforms. The event is free. For more information, visit NewtestamentBaptist.net. On Saturday, September 12th, the City of Hanford will be holding their annual Catfish Crawl Kids Fishing Derby at Hidden Valley Park. Call 585-2525 for more information. If you have an event coming up, large or small, and you'd like some help getting the word out, let's work together. Send your information to HanfordInsider at gmail.com. The Hanford Insider has the most comprehensive community calendar available at HanfordInsider.com.

Blues And Roots Festival Big Picture

SPEAKER_03 3:56

Well, September is here, and on September 19th at the Hanford Civic Auditorium Park, it is the 25th annual downtown Hanford Blues and Roots Festival. And I'm here with Mr. Hanford himself, Jim Castleman. How are you doing, Jim? Doing good, Rob. How are you? I'm it's it's an awesome day today. It's beautiful out here this morning. Yeah, we're actually out here at the park. Uh, thought it would be a great opportunity just to kind of kick back a little bit and talk some jazz and blues. So, Jim, September 19th, so this is going to be next week. Uh, we have the blues festival coming up, but this thing has become more than just music. It's a whole vibe downtown, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 4:37

Yeah, it really is. We get probably 3,000 people upwards, uh, maybe a little bit more than that in the park. And it's people coming in from all around. I I think the Hanford Hotel has got uh like up to 25 rooms booked for people coming in from out of town for the blues festival. And it's just, you know, there's only there's only three free blues festivals in the United States. One's in Chicago, one's in Hendersonville, Kentucky, and the third one's in Hanford, California. And so there's a lot of pride in it. The the Central Valley Blues Society from Fresno comes up here in Mass. Uh, the San Luis Obispo Blues Society, the Curtain River Blues Society in Bakersfield. There's people from all those societies that show up in town, and we just have a really great time. Great music, great people, fun vibe, food vendors, the whole parks of beer and wine gardens. You can it's a free ticket. So you bring your lawn chairs and your blankets, you can wander back and forth, get your beer, get your food, come back to your blankets, sit down. Great music.

SPEAKER_03 5:38

That's great. So let's get to the music then. You've got some great artists coming this year. I understand.

SPEAKER_02 5:43

Yes, sir. Uh, Daniel Castro is gonna be the headliner. He's coming from the state of Washington. He's been here about seven years ago. Uh, was very popular when he was here, and he just does a great job. Very outstanding musician. And then uh John Clifton blues band has been around a long time. Uh originally the Mofo party band to most people in the Valley. Yeah, I was gonna say that it was him and his brother. Okay. And uh they split, and John uh still tours. He goes to Poland and to France and plays blues festivals all over. Uh, great harmonica player, great entertainer. Uh, he's a lot of fun, so he's the middle band. And then we have a young guy uh that's been uh in Fresno here recently, uh Anderson Safri and the Flatlanders, and he's really, really good and a great entertainer. Um, probably about 35 years old. Uh so he's new to the scene, uh, but doing a great job. And so it's gonna be a lot of fun. You know, we uh open the gates at basically open the gates at 5 o'clock, start selling beer. Uh first first bands on at 5 30, and we'll be done probably about nine to nine in a little bit. So not gonna be a late night. Uh we've kind of uh pushed it ahead a little bit because we've seen in the last few years people getting up and leaving at 9 30. And so people coming from out of town want to hit the road. Yeah, want to hit the road and things like that. So we've tried to shorten it a little bit to maybe keep people hanging out for the headliner, you know. But it's so it should be a great

Band Lineup Times And Park Setup

SPEAKER_02 7:14

night.

SPEAKER_03 7:14

Yeah, how are you able to offer this event for free when I you know I've been to these festivals and paid $25, $75 to uh attend a similar festival and some great venues, let's be honest, but uh some just downtown areas. Uh how is Hanford able to put on a festival of this magnitude uh free of charge?

SPEAKER_02 7:35

Well, I've been we Main Street Hanford have been blessed with great sponsorships. They've followed the Bleeds Festival and they've come back every year. Uh I just have some outstanding sponsors. There's probably, I think there's 20 sponsors this year. Yeah, they're on the poster. They're on the poster. Uh, you know, I I could go through and there's some that don't want to be mentioned on the poster or on the shirts. They just want to support it. And so it that's the only way we can do it. Because it's it's uh uh you know, to pay three bands, to pay for professional sound, to pay for professional lighting. Uh it's it's a it's a it's a big stroke. And so to have those kind of sponsorships, it just you know, I'm blessed that they keep coming back. Yeah. And hopefully they'll continue. And maybe we can find some new ones that believe in it. And and uh I think I picked up probably this year I have picked up three to four new ones. So that's great because it's a you know, the blues and jazz blues it it's kind of a uh a certain genre of people that like that genre of music, you know, and so uh to to introduce it to other people is what the the the the idea is to try to get some younger people and some different people that don't normally listen to it, come out, join the party, and see, hey, this music's really good.

SPEAKER_03 9:00

Yeah, and blues has changed too. I know just from um you know going to different events myself. Uh the interpretation of blues is very different depending on who you

Why Blues Still Feels Universal

SPEAKER_03 9:10

talk to. So um what would you tell someone who maybe uh is not as familiar with the blues about why this music just is such feel-good music, regardless of your your musical taste? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

Well, it's been a it's been around probably as long as anything. You know, it started in the 30s and in the 40s if you go deep and see some of the old blues players and some of those players when the Rolling Stones and when Led Zeppelin and when some of those bands hit America, all they were doing was covering those 1930, 1940 blues songs, and with the with a little bit of add-on to the to the you know, they they say blues had a baby and they named it rock and roll. And so that's what's happened. It so it goes deep into the roots of music, all music, really. The country blues, into jazz, into all into all veins. So there's something that resonates deep down. The the beat and the and the and the feeling resonates, and still today, you know, and and I think there's younger players on the scene now, and hopefully the younger crowd will pick up on some of that. That's what I'm hoping for.

SPEAKER_03 10:20

You know, yeah, it's definitely feel-good music. And when you add the the people and the uh food booths and such, it it's like I said at the very beginning, it's it's a whole vibe downtown. Uh just downtown feels different on blues festival day. It does, it does.

SPEAKER_02 10:35

And the other thing that I would say is it's got a lot of blues has it's it's deep soul music from the soul, but it's also got a gospel feel to it, and so it it it kind of combines all of that, you know. And then that's I think that's where the the vibe comes from, and uh the what you're talking about is you just feel that all over town because the the thing is I've got people that sit in the front row, there'll be chairs out here early in the morning like for eight or something.

SPEAKER_03 11:02

Like at six, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:03

And and uh, but I got some of the front row seated. There's four people that sit right on the right hand side of the front row. They're from they come up every year from Escondito. Spend the night in the Hanford Hotel, spend the weekend here because of the blues festival. Yeah, you know, I I met I met these four guys a couple years ago, another group that come from San Diego. It's four men, they they take Amtrak to San Luis Abisville, they get over here, and they it's a boys' weekend out, and they come up, they've been coming up for 10 years. I met them in the park one day walking across the park. I asked them if they needed some help. They go, Oh no, we you know, we've come here for the last blah blah. So there's that kind of vibe going on.

SPEAKER_03 11:42

Yeah. So this is not music you sit and listen to necessarily. I know that dance floor gets packed, right? It does.

SPEAKER_02 11:49

I I always I always encourage the people, you know, it's it's free. Bring your lawn chairs, bring your blankets, but don't forget your dancing shoes because the front of the stage gets packed. And and a lot of times that depends on the artist. But these artists here, by the time we get to the headliner, that the dance floor will be packed.

SPEAKER_03 12:08

It'll pack early. Yeah, if you've seen any of those videos on Rimscape's site or the Main Street uh Hanford social media, uh, you can definitely get a feel for what happens at this event. It's just an amazing event. And uh once again, that's Saturday, September 19th in downtown Hanford at the Civic Auditorium Park from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

And if I may, Daniel Castro again is the headliner. John Clifton Blues Band and Anderson Safri and the Flatlanders will open the show at 5:30, and it should be a great one. And we we look forward to seeing everybody on the streets and and supporting us.

Downtown Projects And What’s Next

SPEAKER_03 12:45

Hey Jim, well, I've got you here. Uh, you know, we've been through uh a great season of Thursday night marketplace. We still have two months left. Main Street Hanford has a lot of events. City of Hanford has been putting out uh publicity about uh things that they're doing down here. The Renaissance Fair, the Carnegie Museum is having the third annual tribute to the China Alamon Festival on October 3rd. So there's all kinds of stuff going on downtown. And I know I love to bait you, Jim, because you love to brag on downtown Hanford, but you shared something with me earlier about what is coming. Uh people are starting to see the glimpses. You know, they look at the construction at Superior Dairy or the library, or they see the construction trucks outside the courthouse. Uh, what is Hanford, what does Hanford have to look forward to in these next two years, I'd say, when these things start opening up?

SPEAKER_02 13:33

Well, you just mentioned a couple things that the library being redone, uh the county library, which is gonna be awesome. Superior Dairy, which I talked to uh John Zonavel the other day, and you know, they're probably about a year out. They had to they got into something where they they had to tear the roof off. They didn't know they were gonna have to do that, so that's a new thing, but it's good, so it's gonna delay it a little bit because they're gonna have to do a new roof. But I sat with uh Kevin Nickel, who's the owner, one of the owners of Barrel House, uh who just bought the courthouse. If you don't know, the courthouse has been bought by Barrel House. Uh the ground floor is filled, the second floor has four spaces rented, and they're looking to, they've got five more left. And eventually we're gonna have barrel house tap room on the top floor with uh stacks is gonna be the restaurant that's gonna be upstairs. He was telling me that last night, and they're gonna have a banquet room upstairs, and so there's just a the Carnegie in their exhibits. If you haven't been to their exhibits, you you're really missing out because there's so much history here in in Hanford and in Kings County as a whole, that I don't know if everybody really appreciates how much history is really here. So you need to go to these exhibits, and all of that is just a synergy. We've got new restaurants that have hopped up in the last year, downtown. Uh, you know, we've got the Asaíbow and Olica Facito doubled in size, Off the Vines open, Morisco's Tacos is downtown, Poor Richard's Pizza's open. Uh so there's a lot happening. You know, as a as a board member for Main Street Hanford, we've talked about doing an event called uh Taste of Downtown, and that probably we will probably hit that next next year or so uh to do that event. And we've got other there's so much going on. I don't know if the people realize how special this downtown is to them. Yeah. The citywide, we've got a lot of new people, we're building a lot of new houses. There's people moving in from the Bay Area, there's people moving in from Southern California. I don't, I don't, they don't know the history, but this downtown, there is nobody in the whole Central Valley from from Modesto to Bakersville that has a downtown square like this. No, there's nowhere. If you've traveled, Rob, you've been there, you don't see it. Would it have the great architectural buildings that we have left in this city? It's unbelievable. Thank you to those generations that saw that, how important that was to us.

SPEAKER_03 16:04

For sure. I knew I'd get you. You cannot you cannot let Jim Castleman get away without bragging about downtown. If you see him every Thursday night at seven o'clock at the uh farmers market, uh, he grabs the mic and gives the band a break and and lets everybody know what's happening. So we appreciate

Thursday Marketplace Food Music Rhythm

SPEAKER_03 16:22

that. Uh speaking of Thursday Marketplace, it's been an interesting season. Uh, we've got two months left. You've had some weather stuff happen, but overall, how's it been for the marketplace this year?

SPEAKER_02 16:33

It's been it's been really good. The the the food vendors, we have 20 24 choices of food out here. And so, I mean, the foodie part of the market has really exploded. The certified farmers, they always hold their own. It's a it's great. Come and get your fruits, fresh fruits and vegetables. And then we've got we've got probably what I would humbly say is probably the best bands in the valley show up here on this stage for free. Couple beers. If you if you want to have a beer, if you want to have water, if you want to have food, they're all here. And and they come from you know from Porterville to to Fresno and all the all the all the talented bands of the valley. Last last Thursday, last night, we had a first time we'd ever had a reggae band here, and it went over really, really well. So we try to do something for everybody. Next week's classic rock, and we have some country coming, we've got some locals coming. Uh, these last 10 markets are are when the weather really gets prime. Yeah, you know, and we've got all the good bands uh are lined up to finish off, you know, with August will be back here. Max Headroom, which is a great 80s cover band, will be Halloween. We have do a Halloween party on the 29th of October. Uh, we give cash prizes for adult costumes, uh kid costumes, and family costumes. So it's and that's a nice night. It's a really fun night. We buy candy, and all the vendors will have candy for trigger training for the kids. It's it's just a really great night.

SPEAKER_03 17:59

You know, one thing I notice at the marketplace is everybody's so excited for it to be back in May, and it's pretty crowded, but you know, and then you have your days of heat, you know, that you know, it gets a little warm. But like you said, I think September and October are probably a really sweet spot for the market because okay, there might be might not be as much produce, unfortunately, but that's just the cycle of agriculture. But it it's um we came down uh two weeks ago and we had uh food at a food booth that I normally I love the barbecue queen, by the way. Yeah, I I love but the line was always so long um in those early months. But I honestly walked right up to the window, made my order, and had my food in less than five minutes. Whereas in May, I think I stood in line for uh Chef Gray, which I will stand in line for 45 minutes. Yeah, he's great. Um, you know, it it September, October, I think is gonna be a lot easier on them, yeah? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:57

You know, we've come through the winter, and so May, everybody's chomping at the bit. So May and June, May especially, but May and June are good weather months, and and everybody, like you said, everybody's uh ready to come back. And so those first three or four nights, it's like the lines are incredibly long out here for food. Now the weather will come as come back in September and October, the lines will not be as bad, but they'll be steady. And the the food vendors, a lot of the food vendors sell out all the time, and so now you could come, especially if you come in and to eat first, if you come in to eat like at say at say at 5 30 or 6 o'clock, grab your food and then eat and then wander the market, your lines aren't that bad.

SPEAKER_03 19:43

Yeah. In our discussions, you know, because we do this every year because we have so much fun doing this interview.

Visitors Volunteers And Sponsor Support

SPEAKER_03 19:49

Um, but we've talked about the number of people who come to the marketplace that are from out of town. Uh, we're gonna run into our familiar faces, you know, that in Hanford that go down. But there are a tremendous number of people who travel from out of the Hanford area to the marketplace. Share with us a story that you can fall back on the uh this year's season on this year's season that uh someone you ran into that you know mentioned that what a good time they have.

SPEAKER_02 20:19

Yeah, well, I get that all the time, so it's hard to pick one, but but there's a group from Teleri that comes all the time. They always come and they fill up a whole table. You know, I've met people from Reedley, from Porterville, from Visea, Fresno, the the close surrounding areas. I meet them all the time. But you know, when you meet somebody from hey, you know, we came down from Porterville, or we can't, I mean, they that's a little bit of a journey. Yeah, we we came down from Madeira. You know, I met the this four people sitting at the table, they all came from Madeira because they had seen one of the bands up on the other side of Madeira somewhere at a winery, and they heard the band, they liked the band so much, they heard the band was gonna be at the market, and here they are, and they go, Do you guys do this every Thursday night? Yeah for for six months. You know, it's like, whoa, I can't I can't believe it. And I always hear the bands tell me the people that I meet say, Man, I wish our town did something like this. He says, How do you pull it off for for 26 weeks? And so I fall back again. We got a great volunteer base, about 35 volunteers, and we have sponsors. You can you can look at the the the banners that are around town and look at all the sponsorships. We couldn't do it without the sponsors. I mean, we have some seed money that we get, but we could not do all that we do without uh without without our sponsors. You just couldn't do it, you know. And I could name them all up. And there's a bunch of them, but it I I thank 'em all the time. We try to thank them every market at least twice, and we try to do everything we can to make them know how important they are to us.

SPEAKER_03 21:50

Well, thank you for everything that you do and that Main Street Hanford does for Hanford life. Uh it's a quality of life that uh can't be beat, you know. We're very fortunate to live in a town that treasures its past with historical buildings and r restorations and stuff and uh a an active group of people who believe in providing quality events uh for us to come to. So thank you for that.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

Rob Nota I wanna thank you because I think you guys at the Carnegie do a great job. And I know y that you don't have the volunteer base yet that you hope for, but it's gonna come. And that Carnegie that museum is so important to the heart of this downtown. And so you guys do a great job. And and and again, I I think I said earlier in the in the talk that if you haven't been there if you haven't enjoyed some of their exhibits, this next exhibit's gonna be stellar, and you need to go because the the history of Canford's gonna be really uh uh a real light shined on the history of this place, and it it's it's important. It costs you five bucks, and it's worth every every penny of that five dollars.

SPEAKER_03 22:57

Well, we appreciate it, Jim.

Carnegie Museum Exhibit And Festival Tie In

SPEAKER_03 22:58

Uh the Building Kings County exhibition uh part two opens on Saturday, September 19th, the day of the Blues Festival.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:06

And uh we're open noon to four every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And this exhibition, I'll just give you a little tease is that uh one of the things that we're doing is we're featuring iconic restaurants in Hanford. So your McConaughey's Bakery, your Pedon's Cafe, your superior, and a bunch of others. Uh we're gonna feature banks, churches, industries, uh, law enforcement, um, everything that has really helped make Kings County what it is. And uh, Jim, before I let you go, thank you for that plug, by the way. Um th before we go, uh let's head on the blues festival one more time, all the details.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

All right, so there'll be chairs showing up all all morning long at the blues festival. We actually open the doors and start selling beer and and food at five o'clock. Music starts at five thirty. Anderson Safri will open the show, uh, followed by John Clifton Blues Band, and followed by Daniel Castro band from the state of Washington. It's gonna be a great show. It's free. Lawn chairs, blankets, we'll have food booths, uh, the whole park will be a big beer and wine garden in front of the stage. And as I always do, don't forget your dancing shoes. And one more plug, because the Carnegie is opening their exhibit that day. If you're coming from out of town, make sure you come in early enough to go over and spend an hour at the Carnegie Museum before you come to the blues festival. It's a perfect tie-in. Yeah. You get some history and then you get some historical blues music.

SPEAKER_03 24:33

All right. Hey Jim, thank you so much. Always a pleasure, and uh good luck with the festival. Yeah. Thanks, Ralph.

Hanford Area Sports Roundup

SPEAKER_00 24:44

And now it's time for Hanford Insider Sports with Eric Bentley.

SPEAKER_01 24:53

Another week, another exciting Hanford High football finish as the Bullpubs took down San Joaquin Memorial Friday night, and it would be a comeback effort after a pair of early interceptions led to short fields and a 14-0 Panther lead in the first quarter. Quarterback Jaron Mao would quickly make up for those mistakes, tossing two touchdowns to Braylon Thomas to not the score at 14 early in the second, but the Panthers would score just before the half to take a 21-14 lead. Hanford High would turn to the ground game in the second half with a 12-yard Sebastian Cardiel rushing touchdown to even things at 21 through three quarters. In the fourth, Calen Burrell would punch one in from two yards out to give the Bullpups their first lead of the game, 28-21, but San Joaquin Memorial would answer with a 50-yard touchdown to again tie the game at 28. After a few big defensive stops, Jaron Mao would find Braylon Thomas for their third touchdown connection of the night. This one a 47-yard game winner with 42 seconds left, and Hanford High would secure the win 35-28. The Bullpubs improved to 2-0 on the year and will host Frontier from Bakersfield on Friday at Neighbor Bowl. Other football scores from the week, the Sierra Pacific football team is now 2-1 on the year with back-to-back wins after taking down Corcoran 22-9 last week, and the Hanford West football team lost to Riverdale 20-12 last week to fall to 1-2 on the year. This week, the Golden Bears will take on Wood Lake Thursday at home, while the Huskies hit the road at Arosi on Friday. Into the gym now for some girls' volleyball. After a back and forth start to the season, the Sierra Pacific volleyball team has won four in a row, taking down Wood Lake and Parlier in straight sets last week to improve to six-and-three on the year. Hanford West volleyball has traded wins and losses through their first six games of the season, falling to Golden West in straight sets last week before bouncing back with a straight set win versus Corcoran to sit at an even three-and-three on the year. And the Hanford High volleyball team is struggling early this season, unable to pick up any wins in their last nine games. Out to the pool now, where both Sierra Pacific water polo teams are off to a hot start this fall. The boys are 6-1 after taking down Tulary Union 18-11 and Edison 14-9 last week, and the Sierra Pacific girls are 4-1 with convincing victories over Tularary Union 12-4 and Edison 17-8. After a 6-0 start to the season, the Hanford West Boys water polo team were able to bounce back from losses to Lamore and Tilarie Western with a 13-5 win over Madeira to improve to 7-2 on the season, while the Hanford West girls' water polo team are 5-4 on the year, falling to Centennial in their most recent matchup. And according to scores reported, both Hanford High Boys and Girls Water Polo teams are still seeking their first wins on the year. As always, if you have a score report or a team update for any team in any sport at any level, you can let us know by emailing HanfordInsider at gmail.com. I'm Eric Bentley, and this has been your Hanford Insider Sports Report.

Support The Show And Stay Connected

SPEAKER_03 28:13

Well, that wraps things up for this week's show. If you're enjoying the podcast and want to support it, you can head over to buymecoffee.com forward slash Hanford Insider to make a donation, or you can Venmo me directly. To stay connected, join the Hanford Insider email list at HanfordInsider.com. You'll get weekly updates plus an exclusive newsletter delivered right to your inbox each Wednesday. I'll also really appreciate your help getting the word out about the show by liking and sharing posts on social media, or like most people, just tell in a friend. And don't forget, if you have a story idea, community event, or someone you think deserves to be featured, I'd love to hear from you. Email me anytime at HanfordInsider at gmail.com. You can follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, and YouTube at Hanford Insider for more content and updates. Thanks for listening. Have a fantastic week.