Capitola Begonia Festival Diary #2 – Contact!

Anyone who has ever been to Capitola on Labor Day for the Begonia Festival knows that it is a very lively event.

It is both unique and familiar at the same time – a little bit “Fourth of July Americana”, a little bit “Beach Blanket Babylon”, and a lot of local Capitola color – both human and floral!

Kind of like David Lynch meets Frank Capra.

As I said in my last “Notes from the Beach”, I somehow managed to talk my way on to the Capitola Village Residents Association (CVRA) Begonia Festival Nautical Parade float-building team this year.

Nels Westman, veteran float-master and Spiritual Advisor to the project, directed me to the new Begonia Festival float team-leader, Ed Bottorff.

Just to help you keep things straight, Ed is like Luke Skywalker.  This is his first year building a float for the Begonia Festival (or any other festival, for that matter), and he has already developed a plan for gathering the Begonias and has built the float super-structure.  And this was as of the end of June!

If you took Yoda, made him six feet taller, a thousand years younger, and gave him a lush beard you would have Nels Westman.  Nels and his teams have built – and won – several Begonia Festival Nautical Parades in years past.  He knows more about Begonia Festival float-building than Lindsay Lohan knows about ankle-bracelets. In a ten-minute chat, he told me more tricks and tips than you can imagine. 

“Let the Floats be with you!”  (OK, he didn’t really say that, but wouldn’t that be cool if he had?)

I, like C3PO, will do my best to find something useful to do while staying out of the way.

For now, that means doing Begonia Festival research.  And in Capitola, “research” means a trip to see Carolyn Swift at the Capitola History Museum.

I found out there is a lot to learn!

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