Despite speculation to the contrary, the Mad Hatter Holiday Festival and Parade — returning to Vallejo this weekend for the 14th time — isn’t going anywhere in the near future.
Not as long as Frank Malifrando is around.
“I think people need to do things to help their communities,” Malifrando said last week. “They need to do anything they can to help make their community successful. As long as I’m living, the Mad Hatter will be one of my contributions to that. I’m not going away. As long as I have property here I’ll keep doing it.”
Haven’t experienced the Mad Hatter event? Think steampunk, whimsy, colorful, and big crowds. Think Dr. Seuss planning an event with Tim Burton, the characters from Mad Max, and Ray Bradbury.
The event will once again feature a parade of vehicles put together by Obtainium Works, the Flaming Lotus Girls and other organizations, a Grinch, marching bands and dancing groups, marchers dressed as Alice in Wonderland, Star Wars characters …
And, of course, Santa himself.
One of the main things to see from years past — Rhino Redemption, a fire-breathing rhino art car by Kevin Clark — won’t be at the event this year. It’s currently being used in a pilot project in Hollywood, according to Malifrando.
Instead, one of the top spectacles will be what Malifrando is calling “Giant Serpents.” The organizer described the serpents as being 50-feet long and able to light up the sky when the heads pop out with fire.
The grand marshal this year is LaRussell, a rapper and performing artist from Vallejo.
Thomas Bilbo, dressed as Santa, shoots smoke out of the back of his sleigh as he leads the Grand Marshals – the Tonga Twin Sisters – into Vallejo’s Mad Hatter Holiday Festival and Parade in 2023. (Chris Riley – Times-Herald)
“I don’t want him performing on Georgia Street as the parade goes down that way, but I expect that he will likely do something once the parade gets to the tree lightning at the end of the route,” Malifrando said, with a laugh.
The master of ceremonies this year will be Kathy O’Hare from Obtainium Works.
With good weather and the added draw of LaRussell, Malifrando expects last year’s crowd of approximately 8,000 people to grow to 10,000.
Despite Malifrando constantly losing $10,000 each year to put the event together, he’s happy to continue the process, saying the reaction from happy crowds helps him to keep going.
“Without wearing the outfit of the Mad Hatter, a lot of people don’t know who I am,” Malifrando laughs. “But I still get many people that come up to me and thank me. They tell me that as kids they were raised on this and now they’re bringing their young kids to see it. Others tell me that them and their significant other always go to see it. They’ll tell me it’s one of the best things they know about Vallejo.”
Closing time or staying?
So if it’s one of the best things about Vallejo, why are there whispers that the Mad Hatter could soon go the way of other former popular Vallejo festivals like the Pirate Festival, the Kite Festival, or the 7Generations Summer BigTime/Powwow? Each of these festivals have since either discontinued or found other cities to host their events.
It has been suggested that Mad Hatter could go the way of other self-funded festivals in Vallejo that were handed off to the city.
No way, says Malifrando.
“I’m funding this great thing — why would they do something like that? Look, I’m not worried about it,” Malifrando said. “I’ve produced it since 2010, when I took it over a year after the city went bankrupt. But I’m not phased by it. I didn’t make sense to me that the city would take something over that I’ve produced but still lose $10,000 on.”
Malifrando says the Mad Hatter is a “legacy event” in Vallejo, meaning that a certian amount of budgeted city money is set aside for it. Malifrando, however, still pays the city permits and gets money through grants.
Getting events to be classified as “legacy”
Others putting on events for years in Vallejo — such as longtime event organizers Mario Saucedo and Askari Sowande — have been angered that they aren’t getting the same kind of attention and help, and are wondering why their events — longtime events like Día de Muertos, Vallejo Community Kwanzaa Celebration and Fiestas Patrias — aren’t considered legacy events yet.
Sandra Rocha places a flower on the offrenda as she wears a Catrina outfit designed by Mario Saucedo, left, with the Solano AIDS Coalition, during the Day of the Dead celebration in downtown Vallejo. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)
Much of the displeasure from the two stem from the Fiestas Patrias event in September, which was cut slightly short. Organizers allege that the city’s public works department pulled traffic barricades early and automatic sprinklers went off in an area with electrical wiring
In a summer meeting, City of Vallejo Community and Volunteer Coordinator Shelee Loughmiller talked to Saucedo and Sowande. Loughmiller, a longtime resident of Vallejo, previously served as Program Manager at the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano and served on the City’s Participatory Budgeting Steering Committee for many years, including as Chair in 2016.
Saucedo and Sowonde argued to Loughmiller that they weren’t getting the same kind of respect as Malifrando and others, citing interviews they weren’t even asked to attend. Although Loughmiller apologized for not having them more involved in some capacities, she denied that others like Jacqueline B Wonder with Suite Treatments were coming to take away a majority of Vallejo events and run them herself.
“No. No. That’s just false,” Loughmiller said at the meeting, her voice rising to deny Saucedo’s claim. “I’m as direct as I can be. That’s false, Mario. That was never ever the intent of the contract.”
Saucedo responded, saying he “has proof that Jackie (Wonder) is trying to take over his events. Loughmiller responded, “I have a contract!”
“Look, so much of this is feeling and opinion versus what’s in a contract,” Loughmiller continued. “If you feel disrespected, I’m sorry. I just apologized for this. But once again this system has been the wild, wild west and we’re trying to make this as equal as it can be.”
Sowonde argued that the process should be equal, saying she was recently told she couldn’t have jumpers for the kids at one of her events. She said she later saw another event that had jumpers at it. Loughmiller explained that certain city permits cost more if there is more risk, but Sowonde said that she wants equal treatment.
“Whatever you do for them that is good for the goose better be good for the gander,” she said.
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Loughmiller tried to explain that organizers for events like the Mad Hatter and Waterfront Weekend paid their city permit fees and also gathered money through grants. Loughmiller encouraged Saucedo and Sowonde to do the same.
Both Saucedo and Sowande said in an application process they were asked to give contact information for people they work with in their respective events. Sowonde told Loughmiller she refuses to do this.
“That aspect I left out because if I give you that information, what do you need me for?” Sowonde said.
Although Malifrando didn’t want to get too involved with Saucedo and Sowonde’s plight, he did understand.
“Mario was raising the roof and telling people to put in more effort for help because they don’t always have the resources and I understand that,” Malifrando said. “They are very upset because they’ve put in years and years or work and built something up through their work and sweat and the community knows them well. So I get it.”
If you go …
The Mad Hatter Holiday Festival and Parade is Saturday and begins at the corner of Sonoma Boulevard and Georgia Street. The festival begins at 2 p.m., while the parade is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m. The tree lighting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. with the rest of the festival running until approximately 8 p.m. The lighted boat parade on the waterfront will start at 6:30 p.m.
