KINGSBURG â As part of the tradition of the Kingsburg Swedish Days sponsored by the Kingsburg Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber is looking for couples that will be celebrating their 50th anniversary anytime in 2021.
The Kingsburg Swedish Days will kick off Thursday, May 13, with the pea soup and pancake supper and the crowning of the 2021 Swedish Queen downtown. Friday, May 14, there will be booths downtown and the smorgasbord dinner that evening at Coffee Pot Park and the Lions pancake breakfast on Saturday, May 15, followed by the parade at 10 a.m. and more festivities downtown the remainder of the day.
As a new tradition begun in 2018, each of the couples will be honored as guests at the pea soup and pancake supper, the smorgasbord and the pancake breakfast and ride in the parade on Saturday morning. They will also be profiled in the special Kingsburg Swedish Days edition of The Selma Enterprise Kingsburg Recorder. Couples currently living in Kingsburg or couples married in
CENTRAL VALLEY â With stay-at-home orders lifted statewide last week, local business owners are eager to get one step closer to normalcy.
âOver the last week, people downtown seem really excited that things are opening up again,â said Jeff Dodd, executive director of the Kingsburg Chamber of Commerce. âItâs more of an upbeat feeling among the people Iâve talked to.â
Dodd said that the stay-at-home order had affected local business to the point where the Chamber of Commerce had essentially even shut down, with Dodd and Kingsburg office administrator Barbara Little needing to go to the office just a few times a week.
William Alfred Stewart was born September 19, 1930 to Horace and Flossie Stewart, the youngest of 5 children, in Atwood, Kansas. When he was 7 years old, his family moved to Richmond, California; then later to Manteca where he graduated from High School. After graduation, he joined the California National Guard at Stockton and proudly served his country from 1950-1956.
In 1953 he met the love of his life, Helen Pankratz. They were married in Turlock and built their first home there in 1955. They were blessed with Celebrating 65 years of marriage this past year.
Bill began his produce career in Turlock in 1956, also that year his first son Jim was born. In 1957, he accepted a job at Pacific Fruit & Produce Company. In 1958 he was promoted to Branch Manager and moved to Oxnard. There Sheri was born, and four years later second son John followed. Another promotion in 1965 brought the family to Kingsburg, and he later became Western Division Manager. In 1980 a new company WES PAK was f