The 80th annual Apple Blossom Parade and Festival stays true to its small-town roots
Apple Blossom is this coming weekend, and its theme is “Blossoms of Oz"
According to pre-parade rumors, Sebastopol is about to be descended upon by wicked witches, living scarecrows, a cowardly lion or two, some silver-colored Tin Men made out of cardboard and more than a few pairs of marching feet dressed in ruby slippers.
This menagerie of characters will all be part of the 80th annual Apple Blossom Festival and Parade next weekend, April 25 and 26, set to the theme of “The Blossoms of Oz.”
The parade down Main Street steps off Saturday morning at 10 am, and the festival grounds at Ives Park will be open from 11 am to 6 p.m. both days. There is also an expanded free pre-festival party at Ives Park from 6 pm to 9 pm on Friday, April 24, with live music and food trucks.
“We are hearing that many of the parade entries are really diving into the Wizard of Oz theme,” said Myriah Volk, executive director of the Sebastopol Chamber of Commerce, which hosts the parade. There is also a lot of buzz about the festival’s music lineup that includes Poor Man’s Whiskey and Fleetwood Macramé along with a Taylor Swift tribute band and sing-along on Sunday afternoon. Other musical highlights will include a Porchfest showcase of local talent, the Peacetown All-Stars, Sol Horizon, Freestone Peaches and David Luning.
Sebastopol’s Apple Blossom Festival has been held by the chamber of commerce every year since 1947 as a main fundraiser for the non-profit, volunteer organization. The current parade route and setup was first organized in 1968 while there were still train tracks that ran down the middle of Main Street.
This year’s parade grand marshal is Cynthi Stefanoni, Sebastopol’s reigning Citizen of the Year, known for her work with the Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival and just about every other worthy cause in town.
The 2026 parade will feature several marching bands, locally decorated floats, lots of school bands and youth groups, commercial entries, horses and other animals and local fire trucks equipped with hoses that traditionally douse the younger members of the crowd at the parade’s conclusion.
Besides the full days of live music from two stages, the Apple Blossom Festival at Ives Park will be filled with food, beverage and craft booths. Daily admission is $18 ($15 pre-sale) with $12 tickets for students and seniors. (Children under age five are free.) The festival is manned by nearly 100 chamber of commerce volunteers.
“The food lineup this year is very rich and eclectic,” said Volk, listing lobster rolls, oysters, vegetarian delights, ribs, beef and chicken barbecue, kettle corn and more. Most of the food is from local vendors such as Hopmonk, El Coronel, Sonoma Family Meal, Sonoma Chocolatiers, Laura’s Apples and others. The Barlow is one of the chamber festival’s main sponsors again this year.
Last year the number of parade watchers reached 14,000, and organizers expect the same this year. The parade runs the length of Main Street from Analy High School to south of the Post Office, and both sides of the streets are often lined with lawn chairs and blankets (many set up the night before). The parade usually takes about two hours as all the entries make their way down the length of the route. Entries vie for cash prizes and trophies in various categories.
A Yellow Brick Road for a day
In the earlier days of the parade, the route was reversed and started south of downtown and progressed northward, ending at Analy High School. Back then, school band members, horse riders, big-wheeled farm tractors and other entries had to be mindful not getting stuck in the rails and cutaways of the old train tracks. (The last train rails were removed in 1983.) Over the last 80 years, lots of other sights and landmarks of downtown Sebastopol have changed as well, but many of Sebastopol’s small-town features remain.
“I think it [parade day] is the one thing that reminds us every year that we’re still a small town with a big sense of community,” said Teresa Ramondo, a Sebastopol native and former longtime chamber executive director, now retired.
“For me, riding down the parade route at 6 a.m. and seeing all those chairs set out on the curbs and the trucks parked backwards from the night before in the Safeway parking lot, anticipating the parade, was always my most satisfying moment of every year,” remembered Ramondo. “It showed what all our year’s work and effort and volunteer hours were really about.” And, she added, “It’s still what it’s all about.”
In the earlier years of the festival, there was an Apple Blossom Queen contest, full of pageantry, dance choreography and speeches. “The pageant was very popular,” said Ramondo who remembers the contest from her younger years when she once marched in the parade as a Camp Fire Girl and Bluebird.
Ramondo’s mother worked at the Medico Drug store on Main Street, and Teresa remembers the store sold lots and lots of film on parade day.
“Those were the days—even though some people today might think of it as hokey,” Ramondo said. “Maybe most things today are more modernized, but I think it’s great to see all the entries and see what people still think is the best parts of Sebastopol and who we are and want to be.”
This year Ramondo plans to be dressed as one of the Wizard of Oz’s wicked witches when she rides on the Western Sonoma County Historical Society parade entry. (Ramondo is the current president of the museum board.)
In addition to the Barlow sponsorship, the parade and festival this year is being sponsored by local businesses such as Week’s Drilling, Snoopy’s Home Ice Rink, Sonoma County Resource Recovery, Exchange Bank, Robert Stroud Insurance, Hopmonk, North Coast Organics, Pacatte Construction, Sebastopol Hardware, Birnie Law Office, Redwood Credit Union, Fairfield Inn and Sonoma Specialty Hospital.
On Saturday, April 25, all downtown streets connecting with Main Street will be barricaded or limited to traffic from 9:30 a.m. to the parade’s conclusion. Parking and access in the vicinity of Analy High School and High School Road will be restricted to parade entrants only.
For more information, see appleblossomfest.com
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