A fan emailed this beautiful fire-eating shot fromt he festival...you can almost see roses in the flames.

The 2009 Central valley Pizza Festival was, as always, a blast! Though we only perform one day of the festival we still have a heck of a good time with one of California's finest audiences, if not the finest. The festival is a family event and haas lots of hands on things going on including the construction of an 8' diamenter pizza. There are tons of Artisans with beautiful hand made jewlery, clothing, art and more. Since it is a tiny festival we only bring 4 of our 12 sections of stage...still the show played big. We rotated three dfferrent shows this year and added a 4th show when we realized Jugglin' Jim wasn't going to be able to stilt walk as we promised. Jim had come down with an intestinal problem (caused by bad sushi) and spent the day trying to not throw up and trying to sleep between stage performances. In spite of the illness he pulled off awesome performances...what a trooper. Our blog has more on the festival...click here to visit our blog.

The litle ones hagin' with Little Ceasar!

Our tiny 4-section stage with the trailer as a backstage!

Magic Mouse making the rounds.

Construction of the giant pizza.

Each year they have a dough tossing champ...this year's tosser was grungier than the ones int he past but was very talented. The showman in me prefers a bit more class in the costume...but I'm old fashioned.

Jugglin' Jim on the nearly rained out Sunday comparing height with a volunteer Photo by Alana (not in original story)

Pizza Party celebrates local lifestyles By Judy Finney Advance Reporter Thousands turned out for the Seventh Annual Central Valley Pizza Festival last weekend in downtown Lemoore. People strolled through downtown Lemoore and delighted in the wonderful Saturday weather - although Sunday storms cut short the fun - and danced, jumped, and of course ate themselves to happiness in a street lined with vendors and games. "We came to celebrate my birthday," said Kimberly Mendes, of Porterville, who turned 13 Saturday. She had just completed the giant jump ride at the east end of D Street. Friend Erica Luis, 12, also from Porterville agreed the day was turning out to be really fun. Erica had also taken part in the ride and turned many somersaults with the help of the hydraulic rigging and mini trampolines. The highlight of the day was the construction of the nine foot pizza. This year's winning slice, a piece of South Pacific pie, was created by the West Hills College Culinary Club. According to judges Sandy Brown, pastor of the Lemoore Presbyterian Church, Richard Rayburn, projects director Lemoore Elementary School District and Victor Kent of the Kent Family Magic Circus, the slice was selected because everything that went into its construction was edible. "Getting the beach house to stand up was the hardest part," said Jose Meza, first year member of the culinary club. The house was built of carrots. Club vice-president Dan Beeler said anything that stood up on the crust was a challenge because the platform they worked on moved. Completing the winning team were Mark Palmer, Shaolie Yamauria, Marc Kennedy and Rod Simas. The club encourages local people to become involved in culinary activities. Beeler said there are classes and activities at WHCL during the day and evenings. Another hit of the day was the Kent Family Magic Circus. Crowds gathered to watch the family's antics and clowning around with juggling, fire eating and magic tricks. For the athletically inspired, a skateboard competition and three on three basketball competition were held at Rotary Park on E Street. "It was an incredibly wonderful event this year," said Lemoore Chamber of Commerce CEO Lynda Lahodny. "I think we had the best crowds, especially on Friday evening and Saturday. Overall it was a very successful event. We are already planning for the Eighth Annual Central Valley Pizza Festival." The three day event was sponsored by the Lemoore Chamber of Commerce and Lemoore Advance. Winning numbers are: 1st prize - 279231; 2nd prize - 279126; 3rd prize - 996001; 4th prize - 453004 and 5th prize - 279199. Winning tickets need to be presented to the Lemoore Chamber of Commerce, 300 E St., Lemoore to redeem prizes. (April 26, 2007)

Victor Kent performing his "Block Head"(nail in head) stunt with various reactions. Photo by Alana (not in original story)

Note from Victor Kent:

This was our second year at the Central Valley Pizza Festival and our first year to perform both days. Saturday had great weather and a good crowd came out to feast on pizza from vendors and participate in all kinds of activities. Sunday, however, brought rain. But in between showers the Kent Family did what they could to entertain those brave folks who came out. With the sun breaking though for a while we even performed an "impromptu" show on the main stage including a great juggling show, a strait-jacket duel between juggling Jim and Indiana Miles, Fire-eating and Bullwhip tricks. Just as our "trooper" show ended thr rain came and kept coming heavier and heavier. The volunteers who stuck it out were awesome (like the girls at CSD- a company that translate phone calls for the deaf). The only food vendor that stuck out the rain was a man who sold "Mexian Hotdogs", hotdogs wrapped in back and fried up...MMMMMMM! The pizza bingo was a hit between showers as well. below are some shots from rainy Sunday.

Jim Juggles on wet Sunday.

Miles as a clown makes Balloons.

A Boston Pizza Pie

Warming up wet Sunday.

Duel

The big Pizza Pie

The lovely Daisy May assists with the block head stunt.

Princess Amelia's friends.

My Cajun Chef friend!

The Sunday volunteers

How does he do that!

Saturday crowds

MMMMM!

Saturday

Sunday

MMMM!

Duel

Pizza fest captures local agricultural spirit By Seth Meyer LEMOORE - Chicago claims pizza is all about the deep dish. New York says it's the thin crust. But pizza in Lemoore means 30 pounds of mozzarella dropped from a fire truck onto nine feet of a doughy masterpiece. Pepperoni, garlic, tomatoes and lots of cheese took center stage this weekend for the seventh annual Central Valley Pizza Festival, which wraps up its three-day run today. Crowds on Saturday were out in full to enjoy the fun, sun and of course pizza, along with live music, a circus act, a pizza wedge creation contest and a hamster race. "The reason we have a pizza festival is because all of the ingredients for a pizza are produced here in the Central Valley," said Lynda Lahodny, CEO of the Lemoore Chamber of Commerce. "Every possible thing you can think of that goes on a pizza, except I don't think we grow pineapple," she said. The pizza festival was the brainchild of former Lemoore chamber CEO Laura Martin seven years ago, Lahodny said. "She hoped the festival would some day equal the Gilroy Garlic Festival, but would capture the agricultural spirit of the Central Valley." Gary Feinstein/The Sentinel Greg Fogg, Brandon Carrier, Jon Walker of Leprino Foods West carry the first slice to the pizza rack during the festival on Saturday afternoon. Today the festival has expanded from one to three days. This year's events include a skateboard competition, a beer garden, a pizza bake-off and the Pizza Olympics feeding frenzy. Wafts of pizza, barbecued ribs and kettle corn filled the air along D Street as kids with snow-cone-dyed red and blue teeth watched the Kent Family Magic Circus perform fire-juggling, mind-reading and other tricks. "The idea that Lemoore produces so many things that go into pizza, it's awesome," said Carey Alves, a kindergarten teacher from Lemoore. "It's great to teach the kids that pizza doesn't just come from the store," she said as 4-year-old son Zack chomped down a snow cone and beamed a bright red smile. "I love the opportunity to spend time with the family out of the house," said Maria Green, a teacher in Corcoran. "It's great just getting out and running into people and saying 'hi.'" One of the more popular events was the pizza-wedge creation contest, where teams designed giant pizza slices and competed for a $100 prize. Standouts included Leprino Foods' west plant and its pirate-themed slice, and the West Hills Culinary Club's beach scene, complete with carrot boats and leek sails, broccoli foliage and parsnip palm trees. The culinary club won in a tightly contested match. "We had about five meetings to design this," said Andy Yancey, spokesman for Leprino Foods west plant, whose ornate pirate slice included gummy fish, skulls, blue-water frosting and a treasure chest. "A lot of people from the plant are here, they brought their families. It's a great weekend for it and a nice sunny day," he said. In the Hamsters Ball 500 hamster race, seven hamsters vied for the title of fastest furry friend. A.J., Katie and Aryn Beversluis of Lemoore and their hamster, Kikiyo, won the event and a new deluxe hamster cage. The trio trained her by putting her in a hamster ball and having her run up and down the street, said Aryn, 14. "But the real secret was Katie's grey shirt. Kikiyo loves grey, so we put Katie at the end of the course and Kikiyo ran to her." Lahodny said the festival is important to the community because it sets Lemoore apart from other communities in the Valley. "How many places can you close down the streets and do something like this," she said. "Small towns are all about traditions, and this has become part of our tradition." The reporter can be reached at 582-0471 ext. 3043. (April 22, 2007)