No lemon for seniors citizens

Danette Goulet

FAIRGROUNDS -- To chants of “juice, juice, juice” and encouraging

cheers of “squeeze harder,” seniors competed in the Lemon Squeeze Contest

at the Orange County Fair on Thursday afternoon.

“I squeezed the juice, but I didn’t squeeze hard enough,” said Ceasare

Ferrari, 70, with a shrug. “It was a lot of fun.”

It was a rather silly contest, but then it didn’t really matter who

squeezed the most juice out of the lemons because everyone won.

“Even if you are the most pitiful juicer in the world, you get a lunch

or dinner,” said Judy Hofmann-Wade, who emcees the senior events at the

fair.

Every senior who took the stage to squeeze lemons received a ribbon

and a free meal at Hometown Buffet for participating, she said.

Hofmann-Wade is a favorite with the crowd, known for her sense of

humor and for getting people involved -- two things she often combines.

“You have to keep them going,” she said, urging the audience to cheer

on juicers.

The lemon squeeze is one of several contests held for seniors during

the fair that takes the theme -- in this year’s case, citrus and sun --

and runs with it.

On the Heritage stage, the women and men -- in that order -- were

called up in groups of four to twist and squeeze their lemons harder than

their opponents.

For the women, Diane Hale wrung the most out of her lemons in a

minute.

“This is my first contest since I retired,” she said, holding up her

big, blue ribbon.

After 40 years of teaching at high school, the Newport Beach woman

rejoiced after her first official senior activity.

“What fun that was,” she said, beaming with excitement. “I just had a

great time. I was waiting for the announcement [of winners]. I felt just

like a kid.”