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New faces for GE Village Fair

Tom Deininger is one of the happiest fellows in town - or, at least it's easy to believe he must be. He walks around with a glowing smile and always has good news to share.

This week, both of my items are directly from Tom, shared with his good Glen Ellen enthusiasm.

New to our town, Tom's taken up residence (so to speak) above the Jack London Saloon where he plies his trade as a photographer, teacher, community volunteer and all around good guy.

I'm sure the beleaguered and hard-working team that has been organizing our Glen Ellen Village Fair for so many years was thrilled to have Tom arrive last year and immediately jump into helping with that big town project. Among those folks who deserve our sincere thanks for many years of work are Tom Cygnar, Mary Kate Carter, Cathy Leonard, Mary Ann Carr and Steve Perry.

In their place we welcome Leslee Bonino, Lisa Hardy, Vicki Nightingale, Leslie Vaughn, Marina Abbott, Eileen Berger, Shannon and Steve Lee along with Tom and others. We applaud these helpful folks, but also know, as in past years, it will take a whole lot of help from the community to pull this off.

As always, our big town festival is on the second Sunday of October, this year Sunday Oct. 9. That day, we'll close Arnold Drive and begin our festivities with our heart-warming, unique parade at high noon. About half the folks in our town proudly walk down the two blocks of Arnold, while the other half lines the street to cheer them on. As Tom admits, "We're not competing with the big parade in NYC, so don't expect huge balloons."

But you certainly can expect a few huge surprises - remember the Steam Punk dancing Drengsons, Glen Lyon's Heimlich Dance or the Dreyer's Rose Garden? But the core of our parade is simply your good old (and young) friends and neighbors simply being themselves. We love our parade. If you'd like to be part of it, call Shannon or Steve Lee at 996-3352.

Following the parade, folks stroll the street where booths for food, crafts and more tempt all of us. To arrange booth space, call Marina Abbott at 938-8287. While music fills the stage during the day, the events are brought to a close with the raffle drawing for our prized Village Fair quilt. Tickets will be sold at the fair, but you can also purchase them at our Glen Ellen Village Market on Sept. 17 and Oct. 1 around a leisurely lunch hour, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Contact Lisa or Mike Hardy at 996-9305 or Tom Deininger at 481-6764.

Next up is great nuptial news about a fellow that many admire in our town. He keeps our cars looking great when bumps and thumps plague us. That would be sweet Kevin Flores, head honcho at Marshall's Auto Body in the center of town. I recently heard about his wedding to lovely bride Lori LaPorta last May. And I gotta say, it's as unusual as any I've heard, but so completely down-to-earth in Kevin's style that it made me smile, just like Tom Deininger.

Here's Tom's description: "With camera in hand and standing on a saw horse, I joined friends and family of Kevin and Lori as they were married at his auto body shop in downtown Glen Ellen. I've been to many weddings in my day but never before have guests replaced cars with dented fenders. Nor have I seen a flower-decked lift holding a nearly restored '59 Corvette used as the altar."

I'd say that's the finest example of an altered altar I've ever heard of and I expected Tom to add that they drove off in that snazzy 'Vette. But Tom ends with, "They honeymooned in Hawaii. The 'Vette is soon to be born."

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Share your good news with friends and neighbors in Glen Ellen. Call me at 996-5995; write me at Box 518, GE 95442. Or email me at creekbottom@earthlink.net. Glen Ellen chatter rarely requires timeliness; however, if your news does, please be sure to contact me at least two weeks before the run date.

 

 

For more of Sylvia Crawford's coumn, see www.sonomanews.com.