CRT Loved the Pear Blossom Festival…and it Was Mutual.

CRT Loved the Pear Blossom Festival…and it Was Mutual.

Article by Jefferson Reeder

CRT participated in our first Pear Blossom Festival, and it was an ideal chance to meet people, let them know what we do, and establish more of a footprint in Southern Oregon.

The festival was itself a tremendously fun production. Under sunny and blustery skies, the festival and parade had its first full event in two years, and you could tell people had missed the social interaction as they strolled between booths, listened to the music in the Commons, or watched the parade.

An estimated 30,000 people were downtown to watch the Parade and to take part in what felt like one big outdoor party, and a spring awakening for people who have been stuck inside for too long.

The theme for this year’s parade was Grow Your Community, which perfectly mirrored why CRT was so happy to participate. At CRT, we work to help communities rebuild. We have done toy drives and supply runs for wildfire survivors in Southern Oregon, but we are looking to do even more for long-term.

In that regard, Founder and President Marc Brooks said, “ I had a blast at the Pear Blossom event. It's all about community for me.  As much as doing work in the community is important I feel it's equally as important to connect with the community, get to know the community and build trust in the community. We have six employees  (hope I have that right) in the Medford area, and the Pear Blossom event was a great way to get the team involved. We also were excited to connect with various partners such as Foo from WorkSource, Tucker Teutsch with Firebrand Resiliency Collective and Multiple Individuals from the JCLTRG.”

With our booth featuring baby rescue goats, free candy, and hand-crafted balloons, we had people lined up, all of them patient for a balloon or a chance to pet a goat. “The fur is so soft,” was a constant comment, as was “can I buy them?” ☺

The children of course loved everything, but especially the goats. One little girl expressed her own trauma, perhaps unknowingly, when she said, “I miss my goats!” Apparently she had eleven that her family lost in the Labor Day wildfires. But that didn’t stop her from happily petting the goats.

We had initially brought the goats for the children, but many adults who had been in 4-H or had farms stopped by as well.

Besides letting people know what we do, it was a chance for us to learn as well. For example, I knew goats were excellent foragers, but I didn’t know that they go crazy about blackberries, which is fantastic for fire prevention, because blackberry bushes are a major wildfire accelerator, as was vividly demonstrated in the Almeda fire when it ripped through riparian areas. So goats are definitely a tool in the wildfire urban interface and watershed protection.

We will be back again next year and throughout the year will have more presence as well.

A final quote from Jasmine Angel, CRT’s Bilingual Resource Navigator, sums it up:

“The pear blossom was an amazing event where we got involved in the community. Personally, it was awesome to see the smiles on everyone's face when we brought the baby goats and when Danis [CRT’s awesome balloon wrangler] started making balloons. Not only did we have an awesome time, but we got to meet so many new people and come together as a community.”