rialtonow

Over a thousand people came out to celebrate the 4th of July holiday at Jerry Eaves park in the city of Rialto. The Hometown Carnival featured live music, food vendors, carnival games and lots of open space to play in and set up your family’s spot to watch the 40 minute professional firework show that the city of Rialto advertised.

Our staff arrived at the park about 5:30 pm and there was already a good number of people at the park and having fun. Talking to Janet Story a Rialto resident she was really excited with the event and the turnout.

The food opportunities included:

1. A new Gourmet Food Food truck named Delux that is Rialto based!!!!!!!!! 
2. Kona Ice truck. 
3. Roasted Corn, Chilli Cheese Fries and Roasted Peanuts.

The food Lines were long most of the event. There were games for the kids and some were free and some came at a cost. The cool part was that the pony rides were free but that led to long lines all night long. If there was one constant it was that the lines were constantly long.

There were also Watermellon and Hot Dog eating contests for young and old and true to years past they were MC’d by Mayor Pro Tem Baca Jr. As Joe Baca Jr asked the kids where they were from it was very interesting to see that this event had not only pulled people from Rialto but from sourounding cities as well. We asked Stacey who said she was from South Fontana why she chose to come to Rialto’s event verses going to the one in Fontana and she said “that with her family in town she couldn’t afford the cost of tickets for each person, Rialto made it possible for her whole family to join the event together”. Travis from San Bernardino said “my city gets more dangerous every day, I cant afford to celebrate the 4th of July in my hometown we needed a safe place to celebrate and now Rialto is that place”. Travis was right the Rialto event was as safe as any mass event could be. There were plenty of police present at the event from sworn officers on foot, bicycle and in patrol cars then there were Volunteer Police officers as well as uniformed explorers out making sure everyone had a safe time.

This is one of the many events our city sponsors that our volunteers are part of. We are always looking for new, qualified and enthusiastic volunteers who would like to join the Rialto Police Department

Councilman O’Connell was a topic of conversation as well because these events were part of his time on the council. He worked hard to bring the community events like this to the citizens and many staff members were happy to work on the holiday even though it meant that they would be loosing time with their friends and loved ones because “Councilman O’Connell would want us to do our best”!!!!!!!!! Many of the staff that we spoke to said that they were touched by his community mindset at the recent Grand Opening of the Bud Bender Park.

There were only two elected officials that decided to celebrate with the community they asked to serve.

Joe Baca Jr. was there once again to MC the eating contests which is always a highlight because he knows how to get the crowd going:

The other elected official that was in attendance with the great community of Rialto was the honorable councilman Ed Palmer with his family:

This event was a great event and the central location really brought the north and south ends of the city together. Even though this was a great event it wasn’t without it’s mishaps:

• The City Expected a smaller crowd – it was clear from the begining that the city misjudged the popularity of this years event.
• Parking – even though Jerry Eaves park has a large parking lot one of the biggest in the city there was far from enough room to accomidate the thousands of people that attended the event. No overflow parking was thought of and people took it upon themselves to make their own parking spot in dirt feilds or even as far away as Baseline or Easton.
• Communication – there was zero communication on the cost of games or food at the event which led to a lot of confusion.

All in all the event was a great way for everyone young and old, rich and poor and blue collar and white collar to come together and celebrate our nation and the community we all live in.