Three of the 14 parade Grand Marshals who were locally honored military veterans.
Kim Schweitzer
One of Oracle’s longest running traditions, the Oracle Oaks Festival, was held on a beautiful Saturday afternoon and evening at the Oracle Community Center. It is a celebration of nature, landscapes and our diverse and ever-changing community. This year’s activities were planned by a new group of volunteers, which included SaddleBrooke Ranch residents who made this year’s Oak Festival a great success.
The daylong event began with breakfast and continued with a home town parade up American Avenue complete with floats, fire trucks, horses and military veterans acting as Grand Marshals.
The parade route ended at the Community Center where various craft, information and food booths dotted the midway. There were a record five jumping castles and lots of great events for kids of all ages.
Music played on two stages with the serene Oracle desert as a backdrop. The night time portion of the event began at 6:30 p.m. and included dinner, a beer garden sponsored by the Catalina Brewing Company and special live entertainment. This year’s entertainment included the Lucky Devils Band which played a variety of songs. This band kept the group dancing until their last set was finished.
It takes a community considerable time and energy to plan these events; and this one was no exception. Many SaddleBrooke Ranchers worked for months, attending planning meetings, promoting and helping where needed at the festival.
The Oracle Community Center is a grassroots community organization dedicated to improving the welfare of the entire community including its youth, adults and families who live in Oracle and adjacent areas.
They hope to expand their community service projects, increase course offerings, add children’s music and art classes and increase ability to respond to the community’s the ideas and needs with time, space and resources.
For information about activities and membership about the Oracle Community Center go to https://www.oraclecommunitycenter.org/. For information about places of interest in Oracle go to https://www.visitoracle.org/.