FAIR OAKS, CA (MPG) - On Saturday, September 15, Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District hosted the 13^th annual Chicken Festival in Fair Oaks Village. The festival celebrates the free-range fowl that are a frequent sight in the Village and the surrounding areas. Locals have learned to embrace these feathered neighbors as one of the unique quirks of living in Fair Oaks.

The festival featured a pancake breakfast, live music on the main stage, a beer garden offering craft brew tasting, a Kid’s Park full of entertainment for the younger crowd, more than 100 vendors, a food court, and the Cluck n’ Crow Contest.

The winner of this year’s Cluck n’ Crow Contest was 11-year-old Emily Rice. She wowed the crowd with an extremely realistic chicken call. Emily described how she learned to accurately imitate chickens: “I have a lot of chickens at home. I always listen to them and learned their sounds…And I always watch the clucking contest at the festival every year!” Emily’s family raises chickens for eggs, so she and her siblings are very comfortable around chickens. 

Major sponsors of this year’s festival were SMUD, Oak Leaf Dental, 99.5 K-LOVE Radio, Raley’s, Imagine Real Estate, Scooter’s Coffee, SactoMoFo, and Central Valley Community Bank. The festival is always well attended, but Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District administrator Mike Aho said that there were definitely more people in attendance this year than before. Aho’s favorite aspect of the festival is the entertainment, especially on the Kid’s Stage. As a local resident of Fair Oaks Village, Aho explained what makes the area so unique: “If you look at the variety of new communities, that village atmosphere is what they’re trying to build. It’s what they’re all trying to be. That’s what makes Fair Oaks so unique.”

For many local residents, attending the Chicken Festival is a yearly tradition. The Piper family has lived in Fair Oaks for six years. When asked what she likes most about the area, Erika Piper said, “We love the river, the Village, the friendly people, and—of course—the chickens! We attend the chicken festival every year, and we love the activities available for kids and adults. We always have a blast!”

During the festival, an array of signs around the park presented some interesting facts about chickens: Chickens cannot see in the dark. While most breeds of chickens have four toes, some actually have five. To produce a dozen eggs, a hen has to consume approximately four pounds of feed. Chickens can cross-breed with turkeys, and the result is called a “Turkin.” Like other birds and mammals, chickens do experience REM sleep, which is associated with dreaming. The chicken is the closest living relative to the tyrannosaurus-rex. Alektorophobia is the fear of chickens.

For the locals who look forward to attending the Chicken Festival every year, there is certainly no fear of these vocal villagers. The festival is a beloved tradition that delights all in attendance.