LJ wrestling: 'No bro photo', Carrot Festival

Jesus Castorena, 154 pounds, invites teammate

Chris Abarca, 184, for a "bro photo".

Abarca pulled away, saying "No".

(Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

HOLTVILLE--Jesus Castorena was warming up with Chris Abarca Sat., Jan. 30, before the second day of the Holtville Wrestling Tournament. Both are members of the La Jolla high team.

Then Castorena got the idea for a photo. Sitting near the middle of the mat, he said to his teammate Abarca, "Let's do a bro photo."

Abarca, looking uncomfortable, said "No" under no uncertain terms, and moved away from Castorena.

It was a moment of levity in a long two days of wrestling by nine Viking wrestlers among almost 300 from all over San Diego at Holtville High School, 15 miles east of El Centro.

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Combatants in the Carrot Festival exhibition in

Holtville's park dressed in period garb.

"We just came from there," said Carlton Hoggard, staff member of the CIF San Diego Section. He and his significant other, arriving at the Holtville tourney Saturday morning from San Diego, was talking about the 69th Annual Carrot Festival a couple of blocks away.

 

La Jolla coach Kellen Delaney talked the day before about the cook-off at the park in the tiny town, population 5,000 and a few tumbleweeds.

Little did I know before my first trip to Holtville, a 256-mile round trip over two days, that I was trekking to the "Carrot Capital of the World." This year's festival theme: "Let Carrots Rock Your World."

 

Actually, Saturday was rib cook-off day. Then each day during the coming week, Monday through Friday, there is a cook-off every day. A culminating event is the annual parade Saturday, followed Sunday by the family tailgate cook-off.

 

A peek downtown during a break from the wrestling tournament revealed several people dressed in what appeared to be Elizabethan-era clothing. On the east side of the park, men dressed in garb, wearing metal helmets and leather leggings for protection, engaged in hand-to-hand combat with wooden swords.

 

It didn't appear to be too violent. Each pair hugged at the conclusion of their 10- or 15-second faceoff, overseen by an official keeping track of blows that were landed.

 

At a nearby table under a park gazebo, a gentleman was repairing the face cage of a metal helmet.

Women in period garb were tending pots of cooking food. One table held three pies, waiting to be either cooked first or eaten, undisturbed by the midday winds that were starting to pick up.

 

A road near the center of town had been blocked off for the festival, and people were crossing city streets, enjoying a time with family or friends in the park, with children making the most of the play equipment.

 

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Heard at the Holtville Wrestling Tournament:

 

2:09 p.m., Friday. A Southwest High (of El Centro) coach to his wrestler during a match: "Dude, get out of your head. Wrestle."

 

2:30 p.m., Friday. A coach from Mater Dei to a referee who backed up to him while officiating a match: "Don't fart." Both laughed.