Strawberry Short Stuff : Rain Can’t Dampen Tiny Tot Ambitions at Garden Grove’s Annual Festival

GARDEN GROVE — Too much rain is doom for strawberry farmers, but a matter of little importance to proud mothers and fathers. That was evident Friday as the 38th Annual Garden Grove Strawberry Festival kicked off with a bang--of thunder.

Down came the rain, scattering hundreds of festival-goers gathered on the city’s Village Green, but deterring none of the participants in the Tiny Tot Royal Court beauty pageant.

“It never rains in California,” griped Jim Schueller, grandfather of 3-year-old contestant Jasmine Pfohlman, as raindrops the size of ripened strawberries began exploding on the pavement.

Despite the downpour, despite the delays caused by some nasty accidents on the freeway, throngs of parents and children were early for the kiddie contest, one of the crowd favorites at the four-day strawberry festival, which also features a redhead contest and free helpings of the world’s largest strawberry shortcake.

Wet or dry, the parents insisted, there are crowns to be placed on the heads of preschoolers!

Master of ceremonies Billy Barty, a diminutive actor known for his work in movies and TV, joked that the rain was making him shrink, heh heh, but few parents were loose enough to chuckle. The stakes were too high, the competition for that bright red trophy (and the chance to ride in today’s Strawberry Festival Celebrity Parade) too fierce.

Tension tightened the features of 5-year-old Julia Chiriboga of Brea, who had triumphed in her native North Carolina as Little Miss Watermelon.

Julia admitted that she was nervous, but she counted on her strawberry-dotted dress to give her the winning edge.

As pageant time approached, Julia’s 11-year-old brother Trey offered this bit of coaching:

“Whenever you say ‘strawberries,’ say ‘trawberries.’ They’ll think it’s cute.”

Of course, most children attending the festival weren’t out for glory. Most were riding something called the “Berry Go Round,” or winning prizes at the carnival booths. Tony Wilmes, 4, was bopping from ride to ride, ignoring the raindrops sluicing down the lenses of his eyeglasses. His father stopped him long enough to ask one question: “Why do you love a carnival?”

“Because it sounds like caramel!” the boy said, before spinning away.

Back at the pageant, Jasmine Pfohlman was finally walking across the stage. For two weeks, she had begged her mother to let her take part in this pageant. Now she was having a child-size panic attack. Her grandmother, Liana Schueller, offered a theory for why the 3-year-old froze:

“She’s kind of ticked because she couldn’t wear makeup.”