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Valley Home News 10-19-22
Winnie Mullins

Excitement in Valley Home! This Saturday, Oct. 22, is our fall harvest festival in Valley Home.
The harvest festival starts at 6 p.m. and goes until 9 p.m. at our Valley Home School. Our harvest festival was started many years ago as a way to celebrate our bountiful fall harvest season here in Valley Home. The proceeds from this very special evening go to our Valley Home School students.

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Our Community and our Valley Home School work together to make this evening a special time for all! Young folks and older folks will each find something to enjoy at the Festival. Come and enjoy a delicious dinner while you visit with your neighbors. Maybe play a quick game of “Bingo” or have fun with the “50/50 Raffle” during dinner.

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To the delight of all of us, our Stanislaus County Sheriff Helicopter, air 101, will once again land at our festival. We will also have great excitement as Stanislaus County Sheriff K-9 Officer Mike Victorino and his awesome K-9 Pup “Slik Rik” will be here also to celebrate with us.
We are super excited to report that our amazing fire department will once again share this special evening with us. It’s going to be a great evening! Be sure to stop by and say “thank you to our First Responders.”

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Much more excitement, our California Highway Patrol will also be here to share this special evening with us in Valley Home. We deeply appreciate our First Responders. We are also definitely looking forward to seeing our Stanislaus County Supervisor Buck Condit. It will be a beautiful fall evening in Valley Home. Come and enjoy.

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Our fall harvest in Valley Home is a very special time for our community. In days gone by the harvest in Valley Home was mostly from the beautiful rice fields. In the summer, the fields would shimmer with crystal clear irrigation water covering them; it was such a beautiful sight. We do have one of these beautiful rice fields still left in our community.  Its productive field has turned an amazing golden yellow as it comes into harvest time. We love to see the ranch tractors and the harvesters working. This year we are once again looking forward to Mike Hofmann bringing his Valley Home Rice Harvester that is a huge and amazing machine. Stop by and see this magnificent machine, you can also enjoy seeing rice grown right here in Valley Home. We celebrate our beautiful harvest season with all the agriculture around us in Valley Home. The sound of almond and walnut  harvesters, the smell of a fresh field of alfalfa, the sight of a truck load of heavy seeded pasture hay coming out of a field, seeing cattle grazing contentedly on a pasture of clover, tasty grapes on their colorful  fall vines, these are the things we celebrate at our  fall harvest festival.

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Folks come into Valley Home for an evening of fun and celebration, it’s a time to enjoy delicious dinner foods, a time to relax, play a few games, maybe bid on a beautiful silent auction item or a class basket that is loaded with goodies! Enjoy visiting with friends and neighbors, bring your own comfortable chair (or come sit at one of the many “sitting areas” that will be waiting to make you comfortable all throughout the festival. Practice your skills dummy roping, have fun pumpkin rolling, enjoy entering fun contests such as the milk drinking contest, and the pie/pudding contest! Visit our delightful petting zoo provided by Sierra 4-H. Enjoy the sights and sounds of the evening while munching on delicious warm buttery popcorn. Once again this year we invite you to enter your carved pumpkin, your decorated pumpkin and /or your fall harvest scarecrow. In our contests, entries should be made at home and brought to school before 6 p.m. on Saturday. Come; take a ride on the haunted hayride that starts at dark. Our delicious coffee corner welcomes you; you will find it near our amazing sweet shoppe. Our sweet shoppe will offer delicious sweets from the Barretto/Mattos family, and we all know how yummy their treats are.

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During the evening you can stop by and enjoy a tasty sno-cone, or enjoy delightful, fluffy cotton candy. It’s going to be a fantastic night. This year we have a very special contest, each of you are invited to make your favorite homemade pie and bring it to the school before 6 p.m. on harvest festival day. No need to sign up before hand, just bring your favorite homemade pie to the pie baking contest booth, it will be located to your right as you enter the festival. We look forward to seeing you and your winning pie.

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I hope to see you all there, come out and enjoy a beautiful fall evening, gather in our Valley Home as we celebrate our rural way of life together.

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Questions please call or text me, Winnie, at 209-985-5233 or email me at winniemullins51@gmail.com

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Until next time, “Happy Trails To All!”