Happy 90th, Anaheim Fall Festival!

Pumpkins replace oranges for the day, in spirit at least, in the OC.

IF IT HASN'T... been said before, this seems like the optimal moment to point it out: Oranges and pumpkins aren't too far apart. Both seedy? Confirmed. Both orange? Very. Both round? Mostly. Both fruit? For sure, and, nope, saying a pumpkin is more vegetable-like, true as that might kind of be, does not make it so. Do both the orange and the pumpkin show up a lot around the holidays, in decorations and seasonal-specific edibles? Yes. In fact, let's be honest here -- they kind of dominate the autumn-winter sideboard, in several dishes, likely to the chagrin of those other fruits that feel they deserve a bigger role during the cold-weather festivities. Will you ever mistake an orange for a pumpkin? Proooobably not, but you should just stay extra alert, just in case, as you head to Anaheim for the 90th annual Fall Festival and Parade. Pumpkins rule for the day, in the Orange County, and while citruses may be seen, you are more likely to see the jack o' lantern'd icon dominating the cute games and crafts and flavors of the long-running party.

WE MENTIONED IT'S 90 YEARS OLD, RIGHT? Right. This is a big deal, considering the fact that people beyond the OC's borders, and Southern California, for that matter, can often paint us as non-tradition forward-movers. Okay, we can be, but if something works, as this fall fest so sweetly does, we hang onto it and protect it. Want to see the quaint doings with your own autumn-appreciating eyes? Be in downtown Anaheim on Saturday, Oct. 25 for a children's costume contest -- oh, there's one for the pups, too -- and stories and pot-bellied pigs to admire and a Motel 6 Feet Under haunted house and theme-tastic parade costumes. It's a small town feel in a town that's pretty large, and very largely known for its ways with fun fantasy-making. So, will you spy more oranges in the Orange County that day, or items of a pumpkin-y nature? Both fruit-fun orbs are right at home in Anaheim, we say -- no quibbling required.

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