Fortuna, the Truly Friendly City!

Fortuna, California has a very invested community.  In fact, this weekend there is a city wide yard sale on Main Street, where everyone sells their old stuff that they don't use anymore.  I will be selling some old clothes of mine as a fundraiser for my exchange.  Business members also get together once a month the clean the streets of Fortuna.  You can check that project out here.  All of the businesses on Main Street have a "Go Huskies" sign in their window, supporting the local high school.  As you can tell, Fortuna is a caring place and very supportive to live in.  This is also shown by the many events and festivals we have.

Our community also holds many events, such as Auto X-Po, the Apple Harvest Festival, the 3rd of July, and Rodeo week.

Auto X-Po

Auto X-Po is a event where people from around the nation come to Fortuna to show off their vintage vehicles during the send of July.  It is Fortuna's "biggest and most well-attended event of the season."  The cars are judged and there are other events, such as a market filled with wonderful booths.  It is always fun to go, rain or shine, and you can click here to view the website and pictures.

Apple Harvest Festival

Apple Harvest Festival is perhaps the biggest event of the year here in Fortuna.  It takes place the first Saturday and Sunday of October.  The festival celebrates Fortuna's history of apple farming.  Clendenen's Cider Works is a family owned apple farm located in the middle of Fortuna.  It makes the best cider and grows amazing apples.  You can check out the website here.  The cider shop gives tours of their apple fields and free samples of their cider and different types of apples.  The whole town of Fortuna participates in this celebration.  There are booths all over town of vendors selling a variety of things, from clothes to hand blown glass objects. 

This festival is a personal favorite of mine because my family takes a a special part in it every year.  My mom makes homemade caramel, and everyone in the town loves it.  Clendenen's Cider Works donates 800 apples to our family and we make caramel covered apples to sell.  They are AMAZING.  My mom has been doing this for 20 years, and people come to the festival just to buy this apples.  Last year, the money from selling these apples went to my exchange, and I raised more than $3,000 just selling these apples.  They are pretty historic.

Anyway, you can check out more about the festival on the Fortuna website.

3rd of July

This may seem weird, but here in Fortuna, we celebrate America's independence on the 3rd of July instead of the 4th.  Everyone in Fortuna comes to this.  When it starts to get dark, people begin to head towards the local baseball park and lay down blankets and chairs on the dirt.  Why do they do this?  Because they are there to watch fire works!  Shooting off fireworks on independence day is a huge tradition in America.  So, why do we do this on the 3rd instead of the 4th?  We shoot off fireworks on the 3rd because many people like to go up to Eureka, a bigger town about 30 minutes away, to watch another firework display.  So, Fortuna plans their firework display the day before so people can go to the other firework display in Eureka on the 4th.

There is an article about it here.

Rodeo Week

Fortuna Rodeo Week is a CRAZY week.  I simply cannot write enough on it, so you can check out the website here.

And check out videos here!

Video link here from a local new cannel describes the carnival.

Personal Input

Here you can listen to a quick blurb from a Fortuna High School English and Leadership teacher, Raven Coit, on why she loves the Fortuna community.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzQMdPSGKVpFdGpDSzktU09BSC1sOHVSbjd5WkVRUzkwVkhZ/view?usp=sharing

Humboldt County Environment

Humboldt county is a very environmentally unique area to live in.  I just began to admire the large, ancient redwood trees and the cold, blue beaches that provide the rain for the wonderful fresh crops that grow here.

Redwood Forest

Humboldt county is located in the heart of the redwood forest, which stretches from San Francisco to to Southern Oregon.  The redwood trees along the coast have an average lifespan of 500-700 years old and the tallest living redwood tree, which was discovered in 2006, is 379.7 feet, or 115.7 meters, tall.  This tree is located in the 160,000 acre land that is protected by the federal, state, and county government.

The redwood forest is broken up into three sections.  First we have the coast redwoods, which is the forest that Humboldt County is located in.  Then there are the giant sequoias, which is located in Sierra Nevada.  The last section is the dawn redwoods, and these are in central China.  Scientists tell us that there are redwood trees in China because the Earth was once connected through the super continent Pangaea. 

There are many parks one can visit to experience the wonder of Humboldt's redwoods, am I am so lucky to live next to them.  Below are some pictures and videos that you can look through to get an idea of what I am describing. 

Tallest Redwood Tree

Rivers

There are many rivers that run through Humboldt's redwood forest.  Six to be exact.  These are the Eel, the Van Duzen, the Klamath, the Trinity, the Mad, and the Smith Rivers.  These are all located in the Six Rivers National Forest, which was established in 1947 by President Harry S. Truman.  The Six Rivers National Forest covers 366 miles (or 589 kilometers) of hiking, camping, and fishing areas.  The rivers are a huge swimming spot during the summer when the weather is warm.

Ocean

Humboldt County has a large coastal environment.  There are many beaches, but the water is rather cold, so no one usually swims in the waters.  The beaches are incredibly beautiful, and there are always many hiking trails one can explore.  My personal favorite is Patrick's Point.  This is a State Park where people can camp, hike, and do many other recreational activities.  There is a hiking trail that leads to a huge rock, called Wedding Rock.  It juts out into the ocean and provides an amazing view, especially at sunset.

Although one cannot swim in the water, Humboldt's oceans and beaches are wildly beautiful.  I am going to miss the waves crashing against the cliffs that hold the majestic redwoods.  

Wedding Rock

This video here on Facebook shows the beauty of Humboldt County.

School Structure

I realize after I have been illustrating school events, that the school structure in America is completely different from the structure in Denmark.  So, this post will be all about the school structure here, specifically in Humboldt County.

Pre-School
Pre-school is the first level of school that everyone starts out in.  Pre-school is a program that three and four year olds attend to prepare them for real school.  It teaches social interaction, language, and other core educational schools like math, science, and library skills through play.  Most pre-school classes are fun and positive environments with educational toys that help them understand the topics they will soon begin to study.

Elementary/Primary School

Elementary or primary school begins after pre-school.  This includes kindergarten and elementary school.

Kindergarten

Kindergarten is the next level of school.  This is for children ages five to six.  It is much like pre-school, but it has more focus on education in core classes, like math, science, etc.  It also improves their communication and organization skills they will need for elementary school.

Elementary School

Elementary school consists of the grades one through fifth, and kids at the ages of six to ten attend.  After kindergarten, children go to first grade, then second, and so on, until fifth grade.  Elementary school is the lowest level of school that begins teaching formal instruction and the basics of learning.

Middle School

Middle school, which is made up of grades sixth to eighth, is school for kids eleven to thirteen years of age.  It is a transitional period between elementary school and high school, and prepares students for high school.

High School
High school is the last section of school before college.  It consists of the grades ninth through twelfth, and is from ages fourteen to eighteen.  You take many core classes in high school, and there are some fun classes to take, such as photography, wood working, web design, cooking, and many others.  The core classes you take are English, math, science, and history.  There are other departments such as the art department, the agriculture department, and the Career and Technical Education department, which includes wood shop, auto technology, and welding.

Fortuna High School is split up into many different buildings, and each building represents the different departments.  The English and language department teaches in the same building.  The only foreign language that is taught in our school is Spanish, because we have a huge Hispanic influence in California.  The next department is Culinary.  The culinary class has its own building, it consists of a wide kitchen and a class room.  Then, there is the social sciences building.  All the classrooms in this building teach a variety of subjects, from Geography to Economics.  Then we move onto the Math building.  Every subject of math is taught in here, from Geometry to Pre-Calculus.  The science building is one of the biggest buildings on campus, because it hosts more than just science.  The children with special needs have classrooms in this building.  The sciences range from computer science to environmental science.

The departments that I will describe now are what makes our school very unique.  I will start with the CTE building.  The career technology education building includes metal work and wood shop.  There are two CTE buildings, and the second one consists of all automobile technology.  The classes in this building teach students about the mechanics of cars, and they also work on them.  Now, we have the Agriculture building, or "Ag".  Agriculture has a huge emphasis on our community and many kids live on farms here in Humboldt County.  In the Agriculture building, students raise farm animals such as chickens and pigs, and also learn about run a agriculture business, like a farm.  This is a huge program in our school.  The last building is the art building.  We have two art teachers, one teaches ceramics, and the other teaches many subjects, like photography, Photoshop, drawing, and painting.

As you can see, our high school is very unique and interesting, and I am so proud to have gone here.

Click here to go to the Fortuna High School website.

The hexagon in the middle of campus is the library, and it also holds
all of the English and Language classes. 

Milk Can

The next school event is a rather strange one.  Almost even stranger than Homecoming.  As I have said before, our school is very invested in American Football.  It is a huge past time at Fortuna High School, and the whole town shows up to support our team, the Fortuna Huskies.  I have met many past football players that played on the team when they were in high school, and they now have children and grandchildren.

One of the biggest football games of the year is a came called "Milk Can".  This is a rather funny name, I know.  There is a river that runs through Fortuna, called the Eel River, and there is a town on the other side.  This town is called Ferndale, and it is known as the farming town.  There are many dairies, which are farms to harvest milk from cows, and cow farms in Ferndale.  That is where we get the name "Milk Can".

The football game is between the Fortuna Huskies, the team in Fortuna, and the Ferndale Wildcats, the team that comes from Ferndale.  It is a huge rival game and many people go to it.  It takes place ever other year on the Fortuna High School Husky Field, and the teams compete for a Milk Can.  Every year, the winner of the Milk Can game gets their name inscribed on the Can.

Fortuna High School Homecoming

The local high school, Fortuna High School, has many strange traditions to the outside eye.  I've realized this after trying to explain them to an exchange student from Brazil.  The first, and almost biggest, event that happens at Fortuna High School is called Homecoming, and it happens within the first few months of school.  Homecoming is a week of madness.  It is a celebration of school spirit.  We have 4 grade levels in our high school, the youngest being the Freshmen, then the Sophomores, next the Juniors, and lastly the Seniors.  The whole week is a competition between the grade levels.

Because this week is so insane, I will talk about each individual event.  First, we'll start with spirit week.  We have many of these through the school year, but this one is the most intense.  We has a sprit week through homecoming week.  Everyday of the school week, the Fortuna High School Leadership team comes up with dress up days.  This gets Homecoming week started.  It shows one's school spirit and gets everyone ready for the crazy week ahead.  I'll give you an example of spirit week.  Monday is always pajama day.  Everyone hates Mondays and pajama day is an easy way to participate in spirit week.  Tuesday would be something like "Tourist Day", where everyone is expected to dress up as a stereotypical tourist, with cameras and flower shirts, and funny hats.  Wednesday could be something like "Science Fiction or Fantasy day" (SciFi/Fantasy), a day where people can dress up like aliens, monsters, or their favorite fantasy character.  Thursday could be "Workout Day", where everyone will dress up in workout clothes.  Friday, the last day of school, is always "Husky Day".  The husky dog is our mascot and we like to celebrate it by wearing our school colors, blue and white.

Pajama Day

Tourist Day

Husky Day

Workout Day

The next event is float building.  As I mentioned before, Homecoming is a battle between the grade levels, and so all the four grade levels compete in a float making competition.  Floats (see picture below) are platforms that are attached to the back of trucks that are decorated along to a theme.  Our theme this last year was big cities in America, such as New Orleans, Nashville, Hollywood, and New York.  The classes compete for the best decorated float.  The students work on these floats all week, and they have to be finished on Thursday of that week.  On Thursday, a small town parade happens and drivers show off the floats, along with the marching band, and other entertaining exhibits by driving down main street.  People from all around the town come out and watch the parade.

Float

Float

A picture of me working on a float

Marching Band

Float

Rotary Exchange students

Homecoming Theme 2015

The next few days, Thursday and Friday, are the busiest days of the week.  There is an event called "Powder Puff" and it is very hard to explain.  I'll start with the background.  The tradition in American football is for boys to play the sport and girls to cheer them on.  They are called cheerleaders.  They get the crowd excited about the game.  Powder Puff reverses this.  Powder Puff in an event where the girls play the football game and the boys are the cheerleaders.  Only the upper classes play in this game.  The Juniors and the Seniors play against each other.  This game happens on a Thursday night on the football field, which we call the Husky Field.

Some Senior Powder Puff Players

Some Junior Powder Puff Players

Junior Power Puff Cheerleaders

Senior Powder Puff Cheerleaders

This is where the crazy part happens.  After the Powder Puff game, everyone moves into the gym, an area where indoor sports happen, like basketball.  Hundreds of people flood into the seats.  They do this to watch an event called "Lip Sync".  Lip Sync is a huge competition where all of the grade levels dance in a huge routine to music related to their theme.  They also get judged and the judges decide who wins. The students practice all week, on top of decorating their float.  As you can imagine, people are very tired after this.  But, they dance anyway, and it is always fun to watch.  Below you'll be able to find some videos of past routines.  Sometimes the teachers make a routine, and it is always very funny.  The boy cheer leading team also have a routine.

Senior Lip Sync Ending
Theme: Nashville

Teacher Routine

Teacher Routine

Teacher Routine

Videos will be coming soon.



The last event of the week in the traditional American football game on Friday night.  This is a big game that everyone loves to watch.  It is big because of the halftime show.  A halftime show is an event that happens when a football game is half over.  It is like the parade on Thursday.  The floats are driven around the track and judged.  Next, a strange thing happens.  At the end of the field, there is a large metal "F" for Fortuna.  This "F" is previously wrapped in burlap, a type of fabric, and soaked in kerosine, a gas.  During the halftime show, two runners run with torches to the "F" and light it on fire.  Pictures can be found below.  As the floats are driving, more cars are driving behind them with a boy and a girl from each grade level siting in the back.  These boys and girls are called homecoming royalty.  Kids that best represent our school are picked to be the royalty of the school.  Next, the King and Queen of the school are announced, and these students are seniors.  After the king and queen are announced, there is a firework show.  It is very fun to watch.

Royalty

Burning "F"

Royalty 

Royalty

Royalty

Royalty

Royalty

Royalty

King and Queen

Royalty

Royalty

Royalty

Royalty and Fireworks

Football Field and Track

As you can see, Homecoming Week is a very busy week full of tradition and competition.  It is a fun week, and I am going to miss it very much.

Velkommen til Fortuna!

Hej my fellow world citizens!  This is a quick introduction to this blog.  Fortuna the Friendly City is my hometown, and the place I was born.  I was raised in this imperfect small town, but I have gotten to love its imperfections through the years.  I cannot wait to spread my love of Fortuna and Humboldt County with you!

I should probably tell you a little about Fortuna.  Fortuna is a small town located at the very northern part of California.  It is almost 2 hours away from Oregon.  The population is around 10,000.  Fortuna is located in the most beautiful part of the redwoods: the middle of the redwood forest.  It is a whole other part of California that you would have never known existed.  It is always cold here, and always humid.  It is a stark contrast from the California you see on TV.  The beaches are almost too cold to swim in and the sun is never truly shining, and when it is, everyone floods the rivers, beaches, and towns.

Fortuna may be a small town, but it is full of life.  There is always something happening and the community is very involved.  We have many summer events, such as the Rodeo, Auto Xpo, spring events like the Daffodil Show, and fall events like the Apple Harvest.  Fortuna is also very invested in its local high school, Fortuna High.  American Football is a huge event and tradition within the town.  Everyone gets involved.  There also is Homecoming and other school events that the community is invested in.

I cannot wait to share my home with you; my new family.

Love Emma