800 pies prepared for Peach Festival

They're down to 11 acres and the fruit stand.

But after 50 years and four generations, Sodaro's peaches are still a staple of the region, and mainstay of a more recent tradition — the Marysville Peach Festival.

By the time the celebration gets under way Friday, Sara Baggett, granddaughter of the orchard's original owners and great-granddaughter of the original family fruit stand in Nebraska, will have made 800 peach cobblers for festival-goers, using the old Sodaro recipe.

"It's great because it's so easy — a cup of everything, and a stick of butter," said Baggett, 34.

Friends and family members will stop in throughout the week to help prep ingredients, and some will be on hand Thursday night when the Marysville Elk's Lodge kitchen becomes cobbler central.

Jody Sodaro cobbled together the first peach festival in downtown Marysville 11 years ago, with the help of her family, including Sara.

Jody and John Sodaro, Sara's parents, sold the property three years ago to their daughter and son-in-law, and moved to Discovery Bay.

Shannon Jacobsen, events coordinator for the city — and the Sodaros' former baby sitter — now runs the show.

"It's a great family," she said. And the festival, "has grown to be a beauty."

On Tuesday, even Police Chief Wally Fullerton was running festival-related errands in-between his regular duties.

"The world revolves around peaches at this time of year, even for me," he said.

This year's new attractions, according to Jacobsen, include a water slide and roller coaster and wristbands that can be purchased online in place of ride tickets for the amusement park area.

Also new to the event, she said, will be deep-fried peach pie and deep-fried Coca Cola — a product that generated shrugs all around at festival headquarters.

Back in the Sodaro family kitchen, younger brother Johnny Sodaro, 22, rice farmer Josh Baggett, 37 — Sara's husband — and young ranch hand Austin Baggett, 8, plotted their strategy for getting through the week of farm work and the festival weekend.

The kitchen counter itself is a tribute to the family and the Sodaro fruit stand legacy. Photos of Sara's parents and grandparents are protected there under a pane of glass.

A fruit stand in Nebraska started it all in the 1930s. Then, the family moved west and opened a fruit stand where the Sunnyvale City Hall now stands.

In 1960, the Sodaros bought 120 acres of almond and peach trees north of Marysville on Highway 70 and opened the fruit stand that Baggett runs today.

The fruit stand features photos of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004 posing with and driving the family's 1953 GMC pickup truck.

The driving part was not sanctioned by the governor's security detail, said Josh Baggett. But once Schwarzenegger had seen the truck, he could not be dissuaded from driving it.

"My dad had to teach him," said Sara Baggett of the parking lot lesson she witnessed behind a Sacramento motel.

The governor, she said, then drove the fruit-laden classic truck around the state Capitol Building in a parade to plug California agriculture.

"But the brakes were a little touchy," she said, laughing. "He stepped on 'em, and fruit went flying."

CONTACT Nancy Pasternack at749-4712 or at npasternack@appealdemocrat.com .

PEACH FESTIVAL

When: 4 p.m.-11 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday

Where: D Street, downtown Marysville

More details: marysville peachfest.com