Fresno State’s Vintage Days has something for everyone, students say

Marcus Castro never had volunteered for Vintage Days at Fresno State until this year and wasn’t sure what to expect. Castro, a third-year student, wanted to get involved, so he signed up to help out Saturday with an all-ages sidewalk chalk competition.

“It’s a place for everybody to get involved, to come together as a community,” Castro said. “We can all play, have fun, eat and just enjoy ourselves.”

Castro said he enjoyed interacting with so many different groups. At his event, he met students from Clovis Community College and Fresno City College that he said he might never have met otherwise. Parents and their children who wanted to participate were welcome, too, even though the competition deadline had ended.

“I did it to see Fresno’s culture, to see the people of Fresno.  … And to see the kids here, it’s amazing,” he said.

Vintage Days has a lot to offer, said Brooke Weber, a Vintage Days coordinator, with 10 different game booths, at least 30 clubs and organizations tables, and craft and food vendors from all over the state.

Booths were set up alongside Maple Mall, including a new taco booth from the Delta Sigma Pi fraternity featuring long lines.

“This is our first time out here, so we must be doing something right,” said Sal Ponce, a member of the professional business fraternity. His mother, Linda, was the secret chef behind the operation, and Ponce said he trusted her recipes and her wisdom.

Friday’s festivities opened with a pancake breakfast that university President Joseph Castro said might have been a record-breaker, with more people and more pancakes than the university had seen before.

This is the third Vintage Days celebration for Castro, and with the weather finally cooperating he was looking forward to another successful weekend.

Another regular visitor was Patrice Valdez of Fresno, who let her two young daughters visit one of the petting zoo attractions.

“This has been our third year coming,” Valdez said. “It’s nice to bring the kids out, just have them interact and do something fun, get out of the house.”

This story was originally published April 16, 2016 at 4:55 PM with the headline "Fresno State’s Vintage Days has something for everyone, students say."