Hayward celebrates 33rd Zucchini Festival
August 21, 2015
The oral history origin of Hayward’s annual Zucchini Festival 33 years ago is unexpectedly funny: “Hey why not zucchini?” a Hayward council member supposedly said at a barbeque at the mayor’s house.
Even though the sauteed zucchini at the barbeque seemed like nothing but a comedic comment, the mayor discovered that many residents of Hayward grew zucchini in community gardens. This random moment turned into Hayward’s annual Zucchini Festival.
This year Hayward’s 33rd official Zucchini Festival took place Aug. 15-16 at Kennedy Park.
As I walked onto the grounds a tempting aroma of zucchini bread basked in the air and lured me into the gates.
For over 3 decades Hayward has held this family-friendly event to promote local charities and businesses. This year there were over 15 non-profit organizations participating in the event.
General manager Rich Essi said, “This years event was the most successful year yet, we got the largest turnout yet and our headliner bands got the crowd really excited.”
With a turnout of about 50,000 people yearly, the festival has raised over $2.5 million for the local charities and nonprofit organizations that attended in previous years. This years festival was allegedly the most successful year to date, according to Essi.
“The Zucchini Festival is a tradition in Hayward and we usually distribute hundreds of loaves of zucchini bread and raise money for our businesses,” zucchini bread vendor Kelsey Alberts stated,
A variety of music was performed at the event from violins and instrumentals to classic rock tributes. Rick Stevens Love Power, K.Flay, Willie G, Phil Santos, Rachelle’s Belly Dancers, and The Landbirds performed at the event.
The festival also included a zucchini growing contest, festival swings, arts and crafts, face painting, Kid’s Town, rock climbing wall and food.
The nonprofit group Hayward Lions Club Organization organized the event. “The Zucchini festival is a fun tradition we have here in Hayward to raise awareness about our local businesses and gather everyone in the community,” contributor and volunteer of the festival Sherri Ribribeira explained.
