REMINDER: Only 69 days until the Taft Diamond Jubilee -- The Taft Oildorado, Inc., celebrating Taft's 100th birthday, October 15-24 and the dedication of the Oil Worker's monument with Huell Howser present to videotape his program called, "California Gold" for public television broadcast on the West Coast. The year 2010 is also the anniversary of the world famous Lakeview Gusher -- the granddaddy of all gushers -- that spewed 9,000,000 barrels of oil over a year and a half before it stopped flowing. A historical marker is located at the crater of the gusher on the old road between between Maricopa and Taft. The Taft Oildorado website is oildoradodays.com.
Oildorado
At a recent Oildorado Board meeting, president Eric Cooper, announced that The Wall Street Journal had contacted him interested in writing a story about Taft's 100th anniversary celebration of the founding of the city, and that we would be celebrating the oil industry.
Dewar's Candy in Bakersfield has made a special chocolate chew with a peanut butter center for the Taft Oildorado celebration. This candy will go on sale at the Oildorado store at 329 Main Street -- the Old Historic Pioneer Mercantile Building. Several boxes of these chew were raffled off at the last Oildorado board meeting, and a large bag of samples of he chews were available for those those in attendance.
A reminder -- one of the Dewar brothers started a candy store in Taft in 1917 at 417 Center Street. He later became a real estate broker and was very active in the Masonic Lodge and other branches of the Masonic order. He was very well-known and well-liked, and when he died, his funeral was held on the second floor of the Taft Masonic Lodge building at 521 North Street.
Memories of the Taft Oildorado Celebration
Taft's Midway Driller, which is also celebrating its 100th birthday this year, is asking for your favorite memory of an Oildorado celebrations. Please send in your favorite story to be published in the local paper by e-mail to the Midway Driller at advertising@bak.rr.com <mailto:advertising@bak.rr.com> . Their regular mail address is 800 Center Street, Taft, CA 93268, Tel: 661-763-3171.
The Oil Workers Monument
The monument is located at 531 Supply Row. The monument will be dedicated at 10 a.m. Friday, October 1. The idea for the monument was Vic Killings-worth' s, who heads a very active committee of locals who are working hard to get this tallest monument in California completed for the dedication during Taft's 2010 birthday 100th Diamond Jubilee celebration.
The artist-sculptor, Benjamin Victor, an artist born in Taft when his father was a Taft Union High School staff member and basketball coach, is completing the monument. He lives in the state of Wyoming is a staff member of a university there. Victor has a statue in sculptor hall in the Nation's Capital Building in Washington, D. C. A considerable amount of money has been raised by the purchase of engraved bricks and ny other donations.
Big contributors are Charles Beard, Bob Hampton and Dave Noerr, who have purchase bricks for people who work for them. Beard of General Production is purchasing 65 bricks for all employees who have been with him for five years of more. Bob Hampton of Westside Waste Management has purchased 22, while Noerr, owner of Huddleston Crane, is purchasing 22.
The cable tool derrick will have a bronze 35x45 foot derrick floor on which will be the setting of three eight foot bronze sculptured oil workers on the derrick floor.
The sculptured bricks will be randomly placed around the base of the derrick.
At my invitation Huell Howser will be making another visit to our Taft Oildorado celebration. He asked me to spread the word that he is coming to the dedication of the oil workers monument.
Oildorado Store Grand Opening
The Oildorado Store will be opening on Saturday, August 21 at 10 a.m. and will be well stocked with many items related to the Oildorfado celebration. Eric Peterson tells us that there will be many more items than any former Oildorado Store with many souvenir items to choose from, including T-shirts for the young and the old.
There will be a program and fun things happening
