Monterey Park Councilmember Teresa Real Sebastian with Carol Sullivan, Shirley Hwong, Virginia Kiehl and Mark Keppel students Emily Xia, Anita Gou and Kaining Dai offering geraniums for sale at the city’s first Geranium Festival held at Barnes Park on October 11.

Councilmember Real Sebastian discovered that the geranium is the city’s official flower.

Jessica Ramos enjoyed painting the faces or arms of the children who pick out their favorite super heroes, animals or designs.

Children of all ages enjoyed riding Thomas The Tank Engine around and around the perimeter of the park.  For more information on “Trains on the Move” please call 310-532-6223 or e-mail them at www.trainsonthemove.com.

Volunteers from Home Depot assisted children and their parents building a birdhouse or a bughouse.

Members of American Legion Post #397 manned the grill and sold hot dogs and hamburgers to the crowd.

Gavin Haberle proudly displayed his First Place Award in the Hula Hoop Contest.

Ring the bell and win a prize is not as easy as it looks.

Brave young people mastered the rock-climbing wall on the sunny day.

Members of the Monterey Park Woman’s Club offered many gift items for sale.

Young artists enjoyed drawing flowers; trees and more at the Monterey Park Bruggemeyer Library booth that also featured gently used books for sale.

The contestants very busy trying to be the winners of the old fashion water balloon toss and musical chairs.

MRFY and his friends traveled across the park. MRFY is a robot sponsored by Republic Services.

New Monterey Park Chamber officers Randall Avila and Rafael G. Salazar spend the afternoon at the old fashion festival.

Former Mayor Betty Tom Chu was the Mistress of Ceremonies at the Little Miss Geranium Pageant and the Ms. Geranium Pageant.

She welcomed everyone to the first Geranium Festival. The flower has 100 species just like Monterey Park with over 60,000 beautiful hearts. Monterey Park has different colors to add to the beauty of the city. She thanked the sponsors and the contestants for participating in the community.

Mrs. Chu introduced the Judges of the Little Miss Pageant as Sylvia Wong, a longtime resident, active at Langley Center and a volunteer; Bob Tam, active in the PTA at Repetto and a fundraiser and Jessica Ramos, Monterey Park Police Explorer and volunteer.

The Little Miss Geranium contestants:  Shan Shan Lu, Daisy Rodriguez, 
Naomi Johanna He-Ling Chang, Mireya Astrid Chao, Faith Flores, Emily Jiaxin Liu and Jennifer Lopez.

Each of these young contestants was dressed in the favorite colors and answered questions from the judges.

Lil Miss Contest winner are: 1st Place – Shan Shan Lu, 2nd Place – Daisy Rodriguez
 and 3rd Place – Naomi Johanna He-Ling Chang.

The contestants were surrounds by their mothers and Commissioners: Shirley Hwong, Chair: Victoria Chavez-Calderon Co-Chair; Tiffany Truong; Julie Pang-Corte; Mary Ann Garcia-Barlow; Dora Leung; Elizabeth Yang; Carol Sullivan; Delario M. Robinson and Grace Ge.

Mrs. Chu introduced the Judges of the Ms. Pageant as Lisa Yang, a longtime resident, a filmmaker and Red Cross volunteer; Mike Rodriguez, a longtime resident, real estate agent and commissioner and Jacinth (Jazz) Cisneros from the Alhambra School District and current principal of Mark Keppel High School.

The Ms. Geranium contestants: Catherine Wills; Neva Teves Coelho; Martha Chacon; Mary Chou; Teresa Gallardo, Virginia Green-Mason; Miko Nakayama and Shelia Elias Robles.

The contestants spoke about their lives in Monterey Park and some special highlights in their lives.

Ms. Geranium Contest winner are: 1st Place – Catherine Wills, 2nd Place – Teresa Gallardo and 3rd Place – Virginia Mason-Greene.

The contestants were surrounded by Councilmember Real Sebastian and Commissioners: Shirley Hwong, Chair: Victoria Chavez-Calderon Co-Chair; Tiffany Truong; Julie Pang-Corte; Mary Ann Garcia-Barlow; Dora Leung; Elizabeth Yang; Carol Sullivan; Delario M. Robinson and Grace Ge.

Councilmember Teresa Real Sebastian congratulated the winners. This county fair is for all to enjoy. The winners are beautiful roll models for the residents. She thanked the staff, sponsors, and volunteers, Betty Tom Chu, Dan Costley and Robert Aguirre for this event.

Pie eating contest was interesting to watch from a distance.

The festival also included String Licorice, Watermelon and Ice Cream eating contests as well as a Three-Legged and Potato Sack races.

The first Geranium Festival was a very successful event that was enjoyed by generations of local residents.