The Rocklin Kiwanis Club will host its biggest ever event when its 2nd Annual Community Festival opens a five-day run on Wednesday, March 10, at the Westfield Galleria at Roseville.

Chairman Nick Kirk and his committee of 13 Kiwanians made major changes for the event which featured a parade last year. The parade idea was scrapped because of prohibitive costs, but the organizers focused on family entertainment while succeeding in staging the event on the parking lot of the Galleria.

Carnival rides-14 of them by Wold Amusements-will be the big draw for youngsters. Kirks says his group has lined up a half dozen businesses to sell food. The Kiwanis Club will man a beer booth.

Saturday will be the main day for the Festival. More than a dozen booths will be open to promote local businesses. Non-stop musical entertainment on stage will start at 11 a.m. that day. The Festival will run from 4 to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Just outside the Festival’s fenced-in area, an on-site shredding service by Red Dog Shred and a disposal station for old electronics equipment hosted by Erase Your E-Waste will provide services on Saturday only The shredding and electronics disposal services will be free, but donations to Kiwanis are encouraged. Sierra College students, all members of the Kiwanis-sponsored Circle K Club, will staff the services.
Rocklin Kiwanis, part of the international service organization, has served the local area since 1994. They raise money for one reason: to spend it on charitable groups, concentrating on services for children. Kirk will have more than 60 volunteers working the Galleria event.

Donations from more than 25 organizations made the event economically feasible for Kiwanis, says Kirk. The major sponsors are Nationwide Insurance, Coca Cola Bottling Company of Sacramento, Umpqua Bank and Wells Fargo Bank.

Festival events are being staged in the same area where World Team Tennis action has taken place the last few years. Other than tennis, this is the first major outside activity to be held at the Galleria location.
In conjunction with the Festival, Kiwanis also hosts a Saturday night corned beef and cabbage dinner at the Rocklin Community Festival. The fifteenth annual St. Patrick’s feast is sold out, according to Jim Legler, dinner chairman.

Cutline: Nick Kirk is chairperson for the Kiwanis Community Festival that opens a five-day run at Westfield Galleria at Roseville on March 10.