Kids from the 200 schools not only have the chance to perform
in front of an audience, but also meet their favorite student-
athletes and get autographs.
Shavon Furrow / The Collegian

Event attracts 200 schools from as far south as Delano, and far north as Livingston

On March 15 and 16, Fresno State will see 6,000 elementary students from all over the Central Valley come through campus for the 54th-annual Peach Blossom Festival.

“The campus is the biggest thing they’ve ever been to, and they get to perform in front of people and they get to recite,” said Geraldo Marquez, senior communication major and publicity coordinator for the event.

Marquez said that participating in Peach Blossom as a kid pushed him to try new things.

“When I was young and I came to Peach Blossom, it did open up a lot of doors that I didn’t know could open,” Marquez said. “From the Peach Blossom Festival I continued on with school plays. Then from elementary school plays I got involved in drama in high school.”

Marquez is one of the many students and alumni affected by the long-running festival. When Peach Blossom Festival started 54 years ago, the goal was to let children from first grade to sixth do recitations of poetry and prose at Fresno State, thus, giving them the chance to learn to speak publicly.

It started as a joint effort to help teach young people about interpretation, performance, how to be an audience member as well to give them the experience of visiting a great university campus.

Since then, the festival now attracts 200 schools from as far north as Livingston, and as far south as Delano.

“I think it is an amazing festival that is an opportunity unlike any other in the Central Valley,” faculty sponsor Stacie Mimura, said.

The elementary students can recite poems in solo, duo, trio or a small group and a large group. Judges look for confidence, fluidity, their ability to focus and presentation quality.

After performing, the children receive positive feedback from the judges. Students will then receive either an excellent or superior stamp along with a certificate.

Marquez knows first hand how it feels to be on that stage, and said it can mean a lot.

“I was one of the ones that was a little kid getting my autograph signed,” he said. “With that great influence at such a young age, that one event can change one child’s life.”

Though some students may experience a disruption or a cancelled class during the festival, most will welcome the young students who will learn valuable lessons about public speaking as well as experiencing the gravity of being on a university campus.

“It is intended to boost the morale and the public speaking skills of young elementary children so that later on in the future in high school and college they have that motivation that they can do it, that they can speak in front of people,” Marquez said. “It is our goal to give kids a feel of how it is to perform in front people, to take away that gut feeling of what it is to be a public speaker.”