GRAPE STOMP AND BIRTHDAY DINNER.

I thought it was very nice that Grape Stomp was put on for my birthday. It is always a fun time. I approached from the East end of Murphys, the first stop at Hovey’s tasting room. The old Victorian sits on a huge quarter acre lawn, and people, me too, were attracted by the music. This group was dressed for Halloween.


The musician, Gail Warren. I’ve heard her play before and she has amazing licks and phrases that make her music distinctive and complex. I asked if she had a CD. No!


I love listening to her and her repertoire is varied from hard rock, soul, gospel, jazz, pop, you name it, she does it.


Because she is all over the map when she pauses and lifts, her drummer, Eddie Castro, interprets her every nuance and intuitively hesitates when she does.


Some listen and some like to get up and dance, grass didn’t stop them.


I’ve gone on and on about Gail, but I expect to see her name in national recognition some day.


From there, I hit the street to look into the booths to see if someone was selling something I couldn’t live without. This, from a person trying to down size. This guy was called the money man. He was selling rusting metal sculptures. I resisted.


I’m always impressed with someone’s ability to creatively change an unwanted object into something people will pay for, like these former golf clubs.The street fair has over 100 booths, so there is a lot to choose from.


This little girl was delighted with her newly acquired purple gecko. Her brother had a fuzzy dog bouncing on a leash. Her dad said it was okay to take her picture.


And here was Jimmy Heryford selling beer in front of the Native Sons Hall for the benefit of the hall. And, every so often, someone would bang this huge gong. Never did figure out why? I was sorry I’d eaten lunch before I went. I usually find great street food and a beer.


People seemed to be avoiding this booth because the dog was taller than the table. Kind of intimidating to some.


This woman had her own wine on ice on the back of her bike. I asked her if she was selling. “No”, she said, “If you have a glass I’ll pour you some.”  Neat lady. People are such a trip. Town was loaded, heavier crowds than I’ve ever seen before.


I walked to the park and it was mobbed. Everyone was standing in line or eating and drinking what they stood in line for.


But the main event is the grape stomp.The teams come from all over to compete. The initial competition has 10 barrels, and each team stomps 25 lbs. of grapes. The winner of each heat, one every half hour, goes to the finals.


The crowds cheer on their teams.


It is a messy and juicy affair. I stood quite a distance and still got a small splatter on my shoes.


The stomper stays relatively clean compared to the juicer. I don’t know if this couple won the heat, but they worked hard, laughed a lot and if they get to the finals, they have to stomp 50 pounds of grapes. Fun.


I went home and got ready for dinner. Ken and Laurie took us to Alchemy. They were busy, busy, busy with so many people in town.


Everything you eat here is good. Jim ordered a half boneless chicken…


Laurie and I had the seafood pad thai. Delicious.


Ken likes ribs. They have good beers, too, though I can’t recall the name of the beer we drank. And, they brought us a decadent dessert to share because it was my birthday.


I’ve wanted to blog the beautiful coffee table Laurie painted for me. She is soooo talented. Everyone helped me move the furniture around so the table is really a display piece. I’m going to get a glass top for it. It matches all my other Egyptian stuff and I’m just thrilled with it. I picked up the table at a yard sale years ago with the idea to paint it with an Egyptian theme but she has a talent that I don’t have. I love it!

MURPHYS GRAPE STOMP.

I always say, if you are going to a grape stomp, go in style. Yes indeed.  Don’t I wish it was my ride.

The Murphys Grape Stomp is also a street faire, but I’ll get to that tomorrow. My friend and I wandered  around town and met with any number of costumed participants, waiting their turn to stomp. The Wild Ones hadn’t stomped yet.

Welches Wenches had just placed sixth in their heat. They qualify for the finals if they place in the top ten.

“The Foot” didn’t register to stomp.  He enjoys the fun of being in costume. And, drinking beer. This may be a wine event, but, hey, beer was pretty popular, too.

If you are  going to stomp, you may as well get fortified with a glass of liquid grapes, first!

The volunteer crews load the buckets with wine grapes.

The stage is set with 10 barrels and 10 buckets of grapes. Ten teams compete at once. A bucket of grapes is placed beside each barrel while the audience waits to cheer for their favorites.

The contestants line up, some stomp barefooted, some ruin their shoes.

They dump their grapes in the barrel on cue. Then wait for introductions of each team which leaves them time to discuss and work out any last-minute strategy. The team member on the ground helps scrape the juice through the spout into the waiting vessel to be measured.

A team from Chico has won the event 8 times and has set the record for the amount of juice collected during one stomp.  They’ve quit stomping this year and this young team is Chico’s new hope. They’ve received plenty of advice from the retiring team.

They’re off and stomping. People I’ve talked to say, it is harder than it looks.


The scraper is considered as important as the stomper. The scraper’s tatoo reads:  Don’t be afraid to go after what you want to do and what you want to be. Don’t be afraid and be willing to pay the price.” A philosopher.

Some of the stompers have several teams. They form a club to attend the stomp every year. I saw three couples, all women dressed like men. They call themselves the Batchelorette Party Crew.

These two women have dressed up and designated themselves the Grape Fairies. One is the Night Fairy and the other is the Day Fairy of the Grape Stomp.

This guy with the hot dog hat was with a team of about six or seven members with t-shirts proclaiming “Stomp Your Wienie.”  Maybe they are trying for a different kind of stomp, but I’m guessing everyone is simply having a good time at the grape stomp. I did too.