Hanford Insider

Hanford Insider: Christmas Parade Improvements and Bullpups Domination!

• Rob Bentley • Season 3 • Episode 14

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Big traditions don’t stay magical by accident—they’re planned, stress‑tested, and built with neighbors in mind. We open with a crisp look at City Council’s agenda, from the Kings County Farm Bureau briefing to the east‑west cross‑valley rail link that could sync with the North‑South High Speed Rail station. Then we move through a full community calendar—blood drive logistics, election day reminders, a Monte Carlo night, the Elks Hoop Shoot, a school carnival, and a comedy bill at the Fox—before handing the mic to local theater as the Kings Players bring Murder by the Book to the Temple Theater with a playful dramedy twist.

The heart of the show centers on Hanford’s Christmas Parade and why the city is stepping up its role. We break down the new safety plan for a crowd that can top seven thousand: a higher‑visibility police presence, twelve food trucks positioned as both vendors and barricades, and two announcer stations to improve flow and keep everyone informed. We also talk about the practical side—more trash containers to help crews return downtown to normal by dawn—and the operational details that make the night smoother for participants and families alike. Registration is open online and by paper, with a firm deadline of November 14; early entries help volunteers stage units, confirm requirements, and deliver a parade that’s both festive and secure.

We close with sports energy and local pride. Hanford High’s Bullpups ride a statement win and claim a third straight league title, grab a first‑round bye, and wait to host the winner of San Joaquin Memorial vs. Liberty. Sierra Pacific flips a rivalry into a runaway, water polo sees top seeds and a hometown finals site, and volleyball bows out after tight sets that still show grit. Got a score or a team update? We want it. Subscribe, share with a neighbor who needs the parade info, and leave a quick review to help more Hanford locals find the show.

You can find the Hanford Insider at www.hanfordinsider.com and on social media at @hanfordinsider
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SPEAKER_02:

On this episode of The Hanford Insider, Brad Albert stops by to give us a rundown of all the big changes for this year's Hanford Christmas parade. Rob will give you a quick review of the community calendar, and later, I'll be back with your sports report. This is the Hanford Insider for Monday, November 3rd.

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Hanford Insider, your inside look at the people, stories, and happenings that make Hanford, California such a special place to call home. From local events and community leaders to hidden gems and hometown history, we're here to keep you connected to what's happening right here in our valley. I'm your host, Rob Bentley, and together we'll explore what makes Hanford shine. So let's dive in. The Hanford City Council will meet this Tuesday. In the afternoon study session, they'll hear from the Kings County Farm Bureau. I'll be making a presentation from the Carnegie Museum of Kings County, and they'll also hear some more information about the proposed east-west cross valley rail corridor connecting with the North-South High Speed Rail Station. At the general meeting at 7, they'll discuss the city's social media policy and review services with the city attorney. Tune in Wednesday for Mayor Travis Payton's wrap-up right here on the Hanford Insider. Now let's take a look at this week's community calendar. This Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday is a South Valley Battle of the Badges Blood Drive. You can donate at the Kings County Government Center from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day. Tuesday is election day, so if you haven't turned in your ballot yet, you can drop it off at the elections office while you're there donating blood. Friday, November 7th is the King's Community Action Monte Carlo night at the Hanford Fraternal Hall from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, November 8th is the Elks Hoop Shoot Free Throw Contest at the Longfield Center. And that's also the date of the Pioneer Elementary School Carnival. And in the evening on Saturday, it's the big comedy show at the Fox Theater, featuring Concrete, Jerry Garcia, and Dano at 8 p.m. Limited tickets are available at foxhamford.com. Well, it's always a great pleasure to sit down with members of the Kings Players, and they have another wonderful production coming up in November that opens this weekend. And with me I have Annie McGrath, who is going to fill us in on all the details about this new play, Murder by the Book.

SPEAKER_03:

Thank you, sir. So we're having a new murder mystery. It's kind of a dramedy, so it's not super serious, but it's going to be fun. And we have a group of mystery lovers who come together every year to pick out the best and worst mysteries of the year. And they all take on the personas of famous authors like Edgar Allan Poe and Agatha Christie, Charlotte Bronte. And then one of them starts to die, and then we have to decide who the killer is. So Agatha Christie gets on the case, and then a fun dramedy ensues where everybody is chasing everyone else. We uh open the 7th and then we go through uh November 30th. We have two matinees um on the last weekend. So if you're looking for a daytime production, that's a good day to come. You can get tickets on kingsplayers.org. You can pay with a credit card on there now. We have got that little snafu all fixed, so that's all good. And um we hope to see you guys there.

SPEAKER_00:

If you have an event coming up and you'd like some help getting the word out, let's work together. Send your information to HanfordInsider at gmail.com. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a complete calendar of events. It's the most comprehensive community calendar available. Well, can you believe it? We are heading headfirst into November now. It's with Halloween behind us, and I know that December and Christmas is kind of in the back of our minds, but we have some very important information to get out to you about the Hanford Christmas Parade coming up on Friday, November 28th. And I've invited Brad, Albert to come back on the show and kind of give us an update on the Christmas parade and how our registrations and that kind of things are going. Welcome to the show, Brad. Thanks, Rob. I appreciate it. So, Brad, the committee's been meeting for several months and of course ramping up the meetings that uh are planning this event. But uh, can you kind of give us a description of what changes that we're looking for in the Hanford Christmas parade? Uh, we're very excited about it, but we know that some people have heard about some changes. So let's let's let's start with that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, there are a few changes. You know, for many years, the Chamber of Commerce um managed the Christmas parade, and it has now been the city has been asked to kind of uh take over the reins as the leadership on this parade, and we're doing so. As you mentioned, we've been meeting now for a few months. A lot of coordination internally between our streets division, Hanford Police Department, fire department, refuse, and all those things need to be coordinated. But this year, uh I think people are gonna enjoy the parade, and there'll be a few surprises that may not have been part of the parade in the past.

SPEAKER_00:

I know the committee has really painstakingly looked over the security measures for keeping everybody safe. And uh so we're going to see more officers on the street. We're going to be seeing more food trucks actually used as security measures. Can you tell us about the uh how the food trucks are going to be utilized?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, absolutely. So safety first, uh, when you have this uh amount of people in the downtown area, we literally have six, seven thousand people watching the parade. Their safety and well-being is number one. So, number one, we're gonna have a very heavy Hanford police presence on the street and observating just to make sure everybody is safe. So that is always number one. A new thing that kind of pigtails from that is we're gonna have 12 food vendors along the route that will not only be selling food and beverages to folks that are there, they'll also be acting as road closures to keep folks from coming on to um the parade route. So kind of a double benefit there. And so people will be able to have a little more opportunity to get something to eat or drink along the parade route. We're also gonna have two announcers this year, which we're really excited about, about halfway through on seventh, and then towards the end, over by the Civic by Superior Dairy, where the judging will take place. So a little bit different, and then I think you'll see a few other little surprises that you just you're gonna have to be there to see.

SPEAKER_00:

One of the things that we talked about in keeping the parade going is we need for the people that go to the parade to actually throw their trash away. We'll be providing extra trash containers and trash bags so that people can throw their trash away because we don't want the city employees who have to scoop up all of this to be there until three or four in the morning just cleaning after the mess, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, you know, and that's just you know, being a a good steward and a good citizen. Um, we'll, as Rob said, we'll we'll have plenty of trash containers on the parade route. And at the end of the parade, if people just pick up their stuff and put it in, it it helps tremendously because you can imagine the amount of trash and food container, drink containers that folks leave behind at the end of the night. So it is uh and our goal is to have um the parade route completely clean by dawn of the next morning so you wouldn't even know the parade happened. You know, our downtown businesses appreciate that, we appreciate that. And if everybody just kind of did a little bit, it it goes a long way.

SPEAKER_00:

For sure. And I know um for those of my listeners, I've set up an event page on Facebook for the Hanford Christmas Parade, and you can just search uh Hanford Christmas Parade, or if you're on Facebook, you can go to the Hanford Insider podcast page and link to that uh that way. But there are some registration requirements and stuff, and the actual registration is available online through the city website, and they also have paper copies, and we need we need people to register sooner than later because we have a lot of volunteers to get people lined up, but we need those parade reservations turned in early. So, what's the uh timeline that we're looking at for our registration, Brad?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, as you mentioned, the sooner the better. We want this to be a great parade, the the best maybe that we've ever had. So that is the intent, and that is dependent upon uh the amount of entries that that come in. So deadline is looming. Uh, we understand a lot of vendors uh and and entries may already have their packets, and we know this is a busy time. Um we also know that we've added some requirements this year that may not have been part of those packets, and again, it all goes back to safety and well-being. And any questions at all on any of the requirements, just call. You could call 559-585-2525, and we'd be uh happy to answer any questions you may have, but really encouraging all the community groups to be represented on this great night.

SPEAKER_00:

We are looking forward to another fantastic Camford Christmas parade that ties right into Winter Wonderland, and we are not going to talk about Winter Wonderland just yet. I'm sitting here looking at your office at some of the costumes that the uh people are going to be able to see this year, but we're gonna talk Winter Wonderland uh in a couple of weeks again. But Brad, thank you once again for coming on the show. It's always a pleasure, and uh, thank you for all that you do.

SPEAKER_01:

Thanks, Rob.

SPEAKER_00:

To get more information and register for this year's parade, you can visit www.hanfordca.gov forward slash Christmas parade. Don't wait too long, though, because registration closes on November 14th. Now let's check in with Eric for the latest in high school sports.

SPEAKER_03:

And now it's time for Hanford Insider Sports with Eric Bentley.

SPEAKER_02:

The Bullpup defense was on full display, holding the Tigers' offense scoreless through three quarters, including a pick six by Calen Burrell, while quarterback Jaron Mao tossed for four touchdowns and the Bullpups led 34-0 after the third. Lamore would tack on 12 late fourth quarter points, but no real threat as Hanford High tamed the Tigers for a third year in a row. The Bullpups also go back to back to back as WIL champions with a perfect 15-0 record in league play since a loss to Lemoore back in 2022. After an up and down non-league start to the year, Hanford High certainly has momentum on their side heading into the playoffs, but the anticipation for that playoff game will have to build a little longer as the Bullpups secured the two-seed and a first-round bye in the D-1A playoffs. Hanford High will host the winner of the San Joaquin Memorial versus Liberty game on Friday, November 14th at 7 p.m. And it was a tail of two halves at Neighbor Bowl for last Thursday's Clash of the Claws as a back and forth first half turned into a blowout. Sierra Pacific started the scoring with a pair of touchdowns to take a 13-0 lead. Hanford West would answer with a passing touchdown of their own and a pick six to come within one 13-12 in the second quarter. Sierra Pacific added a score late in the second, then it was all golden Bears the rest of the way as four second half touchdowns tilted the scoreboard in Sierra Pacific's favor, 47-12 the final score. The victory closes out Sierra Pacific's season with a four-and-six overall record, while Hanford West sees yet another season go by without a victory. Water polo section playoffs are here, and the road to a section championship runs through Sierra Pacific, both literally and figuratively, as the Golden Bears boys and girls teams were named one seeds in the D three bracket, and Sierra Pacific is also the section finals host side. The boys will take on Selma in the 116 first round matchup, while the girls were take on Torres in first round action. And the Hanford High boys' water polo team also secured a playoff berth, getting the 13 seed in Division III, facing off with Bakersfield in round one. All of those playoff games will start at 6 PM. And in girls' volleyball playoff action, unfortunately it was a quick exit for both Hanford West and Hanford High. The Huskies went on the road as a nine seed to take on eight-seed Chow Chilla, and after dropping set one, the Huskies bounced back for a 25-17 set two win to even the match at a set apiece. The Huskies kept it close in the third and fourth sets, but it was Chow Chilla who emerged victorious in four. And 11-seed Hanford High fell to six-seed Kerman in straight sets, but not for lack of effort as the Bullpups fought until the very end, falling 31 to 29 in the final set. As always, we like to cover as many sports as we can, but we can only do so much without you. Any sport, any team, any level, if you have a score report or a team update, please let us know at HanfordInsider at gmail.com. I'm Eric Bentley, and this has been your Hanford Insider Sports Report.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, that's all the time we have for this week's show. If you enjoyed this podcast and you'd like to show your support, you can go to buymeacoffee.com forward slash Hanford Insider to make a donation. If you'd like to join the Hanford Insider email list, stop by my website at HanfordInsider.com to sign up for updates. You'll also get an exclusive copy of my newsletter in your inbox each week. I also need your help getting the word out about the show by liking and sharing on social media, or like most people, just tell in a friend. For more information about the show, you can find this podcast on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, and YouTube at Hanford Insider. If you have a show idea, be sure to email me at HanfordInsiderGmail.com and I'll look into it. Thanks for listening. Have a great week.

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