Memories Of My Strawberry Festival Celebrity Meet & Greet Appearance As We Greet The New Year


 While it is still the year 2025 as I write this, I must say that one of my God-given highlights of 2025 was my participation as one of the celebrities at the 65th annual Garden Grove Strawberry Festival (thanks again to Andrea Perez, Wendy Ellis and the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival Board of Directors for choosing me and welcoming me). The photo above (taken by Michael David) features me signing an autograph for a fan at the Celebrity Meet & Greet outside the Garden Grove Courtyard Center (which took place after the Celebrity Breakfast, the Strawberry Festival Parade, and the VIP Celebrity Lunch). My wife April was sitting several feet behind me, as folks lined up for autographs in front of me.

Some of my fellow celebrities sitting near me at the Celebrity Meet & Greet table included our Celebrity Grand Marshal Kate Linder (aka Esther Valentine on the TV soap opera "The Young & The Restless"), Wing Lam (co-founder of and TV commercial spokesman for Wahoo's Fish Taco) and 4 teenage actors from the Disney Channel sitcom "Wizards Beyond Waverly Place" (no surprise that several of their autograph seekers were children and teenagers).

In a world with no shortage of daily bad news (and the bad news will get worse...see Revelation 6-19), thank God that I have these opportunities to reflect why I have this eternal joy in the Lord (pointing to euangelion/"good news") via my media/entertainment roles and public appearances, as I eagerly wait for a certain future glorious appearance (Titus 2:13).

May you have a truly Happy NEW Year ("new" as in a real renewal), and per God's leading, may you get your kicks in 2026!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thanksgiving & The Rapture (And More Pro Wrestling Career Memories)!

Image
As I write this, it was exactly 15 years ago (November 18, 2008) when I got this nice message from one of my old cohorts from my days as a professional wrestling announcer...former pro wrestler Sonny Siaki:  What's up, Watanabe! Hope you are well. Just want to thank you for leaving a comment for Bernard. That meant a lot to us. Please keep us in your prayers and help spread my brother's story.  Thanks again and God bless, FA'AMALOSI (STAY STRONG) Sonny  During the time when Sonny Siaki sent me this message, Sonny decided to be the kidney donor for his brother, Bernard Siaki, who had Renal Kidney Failure. Due to this procedure, Sonny's doctor said he can no longer wrestle, and thus, Sonny retired from pro wrestling. However, in the process, Sonny saved his brother's life.  In this world with plenty of selfishness and cold hearts (2 Timothy 3:2-4, Matthew 24:12), my old pal Sonny Siaki is now a true champion. At the time that this news spread, the First Church Of The ...
Read more

Strawberry Festival VIP Celebrity Lunch And More Career Memories

Image
The photo above was taken at the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival "VIP Celebrity Lunch" (which took place in between the Strawberry Festival Parade and the Celebrity Meet And Greet), featuring me with our parade's Grand Marshal, Kate Linder, aka Esther Valentine on the TV soap opera "The Young And The Restless" (Kate and yours truly were two of the festival's featured celebrities this year, invited by the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival Association Board of Directors). My lovely blonde wife April is sitting in the background in this photo...we ate lots of delicious food at this buffet lunch, including, naturally, a strawberry dessert that was berry good! Before and during her run on TV's "The Young And The Restless" (she's been on the show for 43 years now), Kate has maintained her weekend job as a flight attendant for United Airlines (which she says keeps her grounded). This reminds me of an in-flight video for United Airlines that I acte...
Read more

My Parade/Autograph Signing Appearance At 2025 Garden Grove Strawberry Festival, May 24!

Image
  Praise God, on Saturday, May 24, 2025, my wife April & I will be riding in the parade (representing KWVE/"K-WAVE" Christian Radio FM 107.9 & AM 1110/Los Angeles) at the 65th annual Garden Grove Strawberry Festival (a free family festival which attracts hundreds of thousands of people every year in Southern California), and then I will be one of this year's celebrities signing autographs at the celebrity autograph signing table outside the Garden Grove Courtyard Center. The parade will start at 10am, and the autograph signing will start at approximately 1pm (for more details, go to the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival website and click on "Celebrities"...strawberryfestival.org/celebrities). About 6 years ago, a wrestling fan named David Samuel Blain from Florida tweeted, "I'd truly wish I would have met John Watanabe in person, as an FMW Japan wrestling fan." Well, just as the apostle Paul sincerely wrote words of encouragement to people w...
Read more