Page 8 - Reedley Exponent 10-4-18 E-edition

Honor Flight guests
MURALS Continued from page A1
ney for making the opportunity possible. Zanic said he decided to paint an image of Thomas Law Reed, the founder of Reedley, on his mural and named it, “Thank you Mr. Reed.” “I don’t actually live in Reedley,” he said. “However, it’s one of my favorites cities. I come here all the time I like to hang out near the river and near the bridge. I always get to see the sunset and it’s one of my favorite things to see, so I thought I should incorporate the
sunset in my mural, also.”
Zanic faced challenges when painting his
mural. He said painting faces can be a difficult task because any minimal misstep will make a big difference, so working carefully and me- ticulously was a goal of his to ensure it came out right.
“I found a profile picture of him,” Zanic said. “I worked from there but I had to cre- ate the rest. My teacher did not want it to be hyper realistic, so I had to create it with that idea in mind.”
Perez said her painting shows a girl day- dreaming of becoming a dancer.
“We were given a theme to follow and they wanted us to do something a bit more historic,” she said. “Essentially though, all the designs are our own designs.”
Perez said this was by far one of the most challenging pieces of art she’s painted but also one of the most rewarding.
“We had our murals laid out on tables, so we could really only just guess if something was correct,” she said. “Sometimes we were able to prop it up but we couldn’t really move it around too much without risking damaging them. This is the biggest piece I’ve ever done, so for me this was a whole new learning experience.”
Anthony Jewell / Photo Contributed
Three veterans from Reedley were invited guests on the latest Central Valley Honor Flight to Wash- ington D.C. From left are Jim McNerney, who served in Korea, Don Enns and World War II veteran Jim Flippen. The trio left on Oct. 1 with their respective guardians — Mike McNerney, David Enns and Mark Flippen — and were scheduled to participate in events and visits to Arlington National Cemetery in military memorials in the nation’s capital. They were scheduled to fly back to Fresno on Oct. 3.
Juanita Adame / The Exponent
Abrianna Lopez pictured next to her mural called “Somewhere in Time” Lopez was among three art- ists to have their murals displayed on the Parkway.
The dedication ceremony was organized by the Reedley Parkway Committee. The com- mittee — composed of a group of volunteers — was formed in 2013 following cutbacks to the city’s park maintenance. Since then, the group has coordinated efforts to maintain the city’s 3.2 mile parkway.
All three students worked under the direc- tion of RC art instructor Tracy Carrera, and supplies for the projects were funded by a grant from Pacific Gas & Electric Co.
The Reedley Exponent A8 Thursday, October 4, 2018
GRAND MARSHAL Continued from page A1
High School who later played colle- giately at the University of Kentucky, started with the contest as a young boy and later became adept at collecting the frog from ditches thanks to his height.
Eddie said the collecting of the frogs was a fun undertaking.
“It was neat. We went to [canals] on the west side [of Reedley]. We’d go by Dinuba, by the big water tower. They were small areas, the little ditches. We used to go all the way to the other side of Orange Cove, Orosi.”
Frogs now are collected in advance by a young team of volunteers. The event’s present organizer, Nick Brock- ett, is the third generation from his family involved in the event. In addi- tion to Eddie, the present crew of volun- teer “froggers” include Josh Brockett, Katy Brockett, Emily Brockett, Marc LaRocque, event announcer and Reed- ley Fire Chief Jerry Isaak, Jay Reimer and Sheldon Barry.
Vasquez remembers the early years of the contest.
“We started just with a little space. We’d hold [the jumps] on the lawn in front of the police department,” he said. “Sometimes a frog would jump and they would get stuck in a whole or wet area of the grass. We’d get our knees wet working with them.”
Now, the jump circle is a larger fenced-in area on G Street between 8th and 9th streets. After frogs are re- moved from a holding tank and set on the pavement, Eddie gets down on his knees to begin the artful task of spur- ring the frogs to jump.
“[The frogs have] three jumps,” he said. “We put them down and get the kids. They just lay it down and go like this [slap pavement right behind the frog].” Once the frog has jumped three times, officials measure the total dis- tance. Trophies are awarded for longest single jump and longest triple series of jumps.
Cookie Vasquez said she barely learned of Eddie’s grand marshal honor before her husband.
“My son [Larry] called me up about a half hour before,” she said of the Sept. 25 grand marshal announcement by Denny Mason, Reedley Rotary Club president. “He said ‘Mom, Christina [Larry’s wife] had nominated him and he was selected.’ And he said we’re sup- posed to meet at the barber shop.
“I was just amazed. I thought ‘Wow, this is quite an honor.” But I didn’t know either, I was just as surprised as he was.”
As grand marshal, Vasquez also will get to sit on the reviewing stage and help judge the high school march- ing bands participating in the parade. It’s also his and Cookie’s second parade ride, as they were the Fiesta King and Queen in 2014.
Eddie and Cookie have four chil- dren (Eddie Vasquez II, Larry and twins Danny Vasquez and Diane Castro) and
Jon Earnest / The Exponent
a growing group of 10 grandchildren. Eddie Vasquez, Fiesta Parade grand marshal, sat in his barber chair
Eddie said he has no plans to stop surrounded by son Larry’s family and Fiesta parade officials including
cutting hair — or working with the Reedley Police Chief Joe Garza, left, during a Sept. 25 surprise visit to
frogs every October. Vasquez’s barber shop on G Street. Vasquez is the last active volun- “It’s been fun. It’s been a lot of fun,”
he said. teer and organizer from the original 1968 Reedley Frog Jump contest.
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